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THE 



BLOOD OF JESUS. 



BY THE 

EEV. WILLIAM REID, M.A. 



u Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the 
Blood of Jesus."— Heb. x. 19. 



ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH THOUSAND. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

No. 530 Arch Street. 



T3T15I 
.7T35- 

J 2 70 



AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 



J. FAGAN & SON, 
8TEREOTYPE FOUNDERS, PHILADELPHIA. 



^juaj^j^ 



4P » is m 



\h 



PREFATORY NOTE 



The author of this book, Eev. William 
Beip, of Edinburgh, is the Editor and Pro- 
prietor of the British Herald, published by 
Messrs. Nisbet & Co., London. 

The following treatise was, in substance, 
first published in the columns of the British 
Messenger, of which Mr. Eeid was then the 
editor, and published separately about 1861. 
It has been very widely circulated in Eng- 
land, and it continues to be published at 
the rate of about 7000 a month. It is the 
book generally put into the hands of anxious 
inquirers. We print from a copy marked 
one hundred and eleventh thousand. Edi- 
tions are also being issued in French and 
Italian. 

The book contains a plain, full, clear, and 

straightforward statement of the Gospel me- 

(iii) 



IV PREFATORY NOTE. 



thod of salvation, as laid down in tlie word 
of God ; and has the merit of presenting the 
Gospel in all its freeness and freshness with- 
out being obscured and encumbered by need- 
less fencing and guarding. 

There is reason to believe that many thou- 
sands of persons have been blessed by read- 
ing The Blood of Jesus in Britain; and we 
hope that thousands in America will also de- 
rive spiritual benefit from its sound evangeli- 
cal teaching by the imparted grace of the 
Holy Ghost. 

We understand that Mr. Eeid is now en- 
gaged m writing a work on Sanctification, 
under the title "Newness of Life." It is 
intended as a sequel to this book. -We will 
reprint it, as soon as it appears, if, on exami- 
nation, it is found to compare in excellence 
with the " Blood of Jesus." 



CONTENTS 



PA$E 

Prefatory Note, iii 

CHAPTER L 

INTRODUCTORY, . 7 



CHAPTER II. 

FORGIVENESS OF SINS THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS, . 27 

CHAPTER III. 

HOW OUR SINS ARE TAR^EN AWAY BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 33 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS, NOT CONVICTION OF SIN, THE FOUN- 
DATION OF OUR PEACE AND JOY, . . . .41 

CHAPTER V. 

A LETTER ABOUT THE BLOOD OF >JESUS, • . .46 

CHAPTER VI. 

SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE GIFT OF 

GOD, . . .51 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS OUR ONLY GROUND OF PEACE WITH 

GOD, 61 

1* (T) 



v i CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER VIII. 

REGENERATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS, . . 73 



CHAPTER IX. 

FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS ESSENTIAL TO SALVA- 
TION, 83 

CHAPTER X. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS THE BELIEVER' S LIFE AND PEACE, 91 

CHAPTER XI. 

FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS THE SPRING OF HOLI- 
NESS, 99 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS THE ESSENCE OF THE GOSPEL, . 107 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S TESTIMONY TO THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 116 



THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTROD UCTORY, 



HATE been religiously inclined from my 
earliest years. When quite little I was 
wont to say my prayers many times over, 
for I had heard it said that everything done on 
earth was written down in heaven, and I wished 
to have as much as possible recorded there in 
my favor. 

" When about ten years of age, I heard that 
there were some who did not believe that the 
Bible was the word of God, and that led me to 
surmise that it was not sufficiently clear that it 
was from God ; for if he had given a revelation of 
his mind to man, it must have come in such a 
form that it would have been impossible for any 
person to disbelieve in it. I pictured to myself, 
that if God chose to do it he could put up in 
great letters along the heavens, 'I am the 

(7) 



8 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



Lord,' and everybody would see it and believe ; 
and if the Bible were from him, its revelation 
would be so unmistakably clear, that it would be 
impossible to doubt its divine origin. 

" But this was not a settled conviction ; and 
my incipient scepticism was suddenly dissipated 
by a dream. I thought that I felt an intense 
heat ; and so terrible did it ultimately become, 
that the heavens were rent asunder and wrapt 
in flames, and in the burning sky overhead I 
saw in large letters of fire, ' I am the Lord ;' 
but at the same time a conviction that it was 
now too late for the persons who had been un- 
believing to profit by it, and those who had not 
believed the Bible, speaking to them in the 
name of the Lord, would now find to their ever- 
lasting misery that it was true. 

"Not having enjoyed an early training in 
Bible truth, I had many difficulties in reference 
to the doctrines of revelation, and especially 
regarding that of the Trinity. I could not com- 
prehend whether God and Christ were one or 
two beings ; and I was too timid at the age of 
twelve to ask my seniors. 

"When at school I was deeply impressed with 
the solemnity and propriety of daily worship, 
and fervently wished, on returning home, to be 
able to have family worship ; but my timidity 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 



was stronger than my convictions, and it was 
not attempted. Having no Christian friend to 
give me counsel, direction, and encouragement, 
my religious impressions by and by evaporated, 
and my character was left very much to the 
formative power of surrounding circumstances. 
But having been instructed when at school in a 
neighboring town in what was right, and coun- 
seled, on leaving it, by a Christian lady of the 
town, as to howl ought to conduct myself on my 
return home, and being put in a responsible 
situation, I felt a moral weight upon my spirit, 
and gravitated towards the good, the right, 
and the true. 

" I was much given to reading, and from 
having abundance of the choicest books of a his- 
torical* and literary character, I was permitted to 
gratify my taste. The acquisition of information 
was my great aim. I had an ardent thirst for 
knowledge, and every species of works, with the 
exception of light literature, for which I had a 
settled contempt, was devoured by me both day 
and night. Solid literature suited my disposi- 
tion, and I stored my mind with useful informa- 
tion on a variety of subjects. : I was once so 
engrossed with books, that when about fifteen 
years old I left off going to church, that I might 
have the quiet of the Lord's Day for reading. 



10 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



But this I soon discovered to be very wrong, 
and it was discontinued. 

" In the course of years I became acquainted 
with the most evangelical minister in the town 
where I resided ; and I left an eloquent preacher, 
whose discourses were to me only ' a very lovely 
song,' and attended the ministry of the gospel 
of the grace of God. This very materially 
changed the current of my thinking and the kind 
of my reading. Being naturally susceptible of 
religious impressions, I became serious, devout, 
and religious. I carried my thirst with me into 
my religion, and I searched the Scriptures and 
read religious books with an earnestness and con- 
stancy which were absorbing. I got Fleet- 
wood's ' Life of Christ' and read it many times ; 
and so engrossing was it that I sometimes sat 
reading it until two or three o'clock in the morn- 
ing, without weariness. The circumstances in 
which I was living, and the trials which thick- 
ened over my path, were no doubt instrumental 
in sobering my buoyant spirits and throwing me 
upon a course of religious duty. 

" From the instructions of the pulpit, and my 
own reading, I soon became, in some measure, 
acquainted with the system of Christian doc- 
trine ; and believing that I was a real Christian 
because I knew about Christian truth and Chris- 



INTRODUCTORY. H 



tian experience, and had a liking for all that was 
good, I thought it was my duty to join myself to 
the church. I was quite able to answer all the 
questions that were put to me, for I was not 
asked, Are you born again ? I was admitted, y 
and as a member, received the Lord's Supper 
regularly. Even at that time I walked a con- 
siderable distance every Lord's Day to attend a 
prayer-meeting at eight o'clock in the morning ; 
but it was all 'works,' for I felt as if I were 
acquiring extraordinary merit by the perform- 
ance of this extraordinary duty. I had a real 
pleasure in doing well. After this I attended a 
Bible class, and prepared so thoroughly for it 
that I was able to outshine all the rest in my 
knowledge of the subjects which were submitted 
for our consideration. In order the more 
thoroughly to master the contents of the Scrip- 
tures, and satisfy my own mind, I set to reading 
the Bible with a commentary ; and after having 
read it with one commentary I got another, and 
perused it with the most assiduous earnestness 4 
and perseverance. With these helps I passed 
many hours in searching the Scriptures, and 
enjoyed it more than anything else ; but it was 
from no love to God himself, but simply to 
acquire information. I do not remember that I 
had a spiritual sense of sin, either before be- 



12 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



coming a church-member, or for a number of 
years after doing so, and consequently I read the 
Bible more with my intellect than with my con- 
science and my heart. I wanted ' by searching 1 
to 'find out God,' ignorant of the fact that he 
can be known only through our spiritual neces- 
sities. I saw the truth, as I believed, clearly 
enough, but never having been really convinced 
that I was an utterly lost sinner, I had never 
prayed from the heart, 'Lord, save me, or I 
perish P 

"But in course of years I became less satis- 
fied with my religion and with myself; but when 
unhappy I did not go direct to Jesus, but on the 
contrary, I tried to read myself right, or pray 
myself right, or work myself right, and for a 
time I succeeded. I was most strict in all my 
deportment, conscientious and exemplary ; and 
having a factitious conscience, I felt miserable if 
I failed any day to read a good deal, or perform 
other duties. Morning calls often annoyed me, 
proving, as they frequently did, an interruption 
in my round of prescribed duty ; and when I 
met with agreeable, intelligent friends, and went 
thoroughly into their conversation, I forgot all 
about divine things ; and when I was left to 
myself again, after a time of forgetfulness of God,. 
I sometimes felt that I had a tremendous leeway 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 



to make up, and I set about doing it with all my 
might. When thus drawn away from religion, 
I would sometimes have a protracted season of 
forgetfulness of God, but it was generally fol- 
lowed by a season of conflict, remorse, strug- 
gling, and persevering penance. To keep up a 
religion on my plan was a very difficult matter, 
and very unsatisfactory. When I did well, read 
well, and stored up Scripture truth in my 
mind, did my duty as a Sunday-school teacher, 
tract-distributor, and district-visitor, and was 
sufficiently earnest, I felt myself all right ; but if 
I failed in duty, I continued miserable. 

" Being perfectly sincere and conscientious, con- 
sistent in myself and others, — I waded on through 
this legal mire for many years ; and it never oc- 
curred to me that there must be a radical defect 
about my religion. My heart was unsatisfied ; 
my conscience, when in any measure awakened, 
was silenced by duty, but not satisfied by right- 
eousness, nor purged from dead works by the 
blood of the Righteous One. My error was in 
believing that religion consisted in knowing, 
apart from realizing ; and my conscience not 
being spiritually aroused, I persevered in my 
delusion for about a dozen of years. I believe 
now there was one error which I committed, 
which tended more than anything to keep me in 
2 



14 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



my unhappy condition, — I considered my prayers 
so utterly unworthy to be presented to God, that 
instead of throwing myself in all my sinfulness 
and unworthiness before the throne of grace, and 
getting into immediate contact with the God of 
salvation, I employed exclusively the prayers of 
others. I frequently used ejaculatory prayers 
of my own throughout the course of the day ; 
but when I came before God formally, I felt so 
utterly unworthy and unable to order my speech 
before him, that I was always constrained to 
use the language of others ; for, praying being 
regarded as a meritorious duty, I felt that it 
must be done well in order to be accepted, and 
I feared to commit myself to a lengthened 
address to the Divine Majesty. The Holy 
Ghost would have helped my infirmities, and 
made intercession within me, but I had not the 
most remote conception that I might, by a be- 
lieving glance of my eye towards heaven, secure 
his gracious aid '; and so, instead of ' praying in 
the Holy Ghost,' I prayed merely in the words 
of my fellow-men, which sometimes met my 
condition, but more frequently did not, and 
always seemed to keep me at a distance from 
God, and from enjoying direct personal inter- 
course with ' the Father of mercies.' 2 Cor. f. 3. 
"In the unsatisfactory manner which I have 



INTRODUCTORY. J5 



just described, I wasted and lost mj young 
years, l and was nothing bettered, but rather 
grew worse.' Mark v. 26. I had been religious, 
dutiful, and consistent ; but it had been a mere 
going about to estalish my own righteousness, 
for my system of service ignored the central 
fact of Divine Revelation, — that ' Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners.' 1 Tim. i. 
15. ' But God, who is rich in mercy,' Eph. ii. 4, 
had compassion on me, and by the grace of his 
Holy Spirit, ' revealed his Son in me,' Gal. i. 16, 
and turned 'the shadow of death into the morn- 
ing,' Amos v. 8. The first gleam of gospel light 
which entered my darkened mind was in reading 
a little tract in which Luther's conversion is 
referred to. When the words of the Creed, ' I 
believe in the forgiveness of sins,' were pro- 
nounced in his hearing, he took them up and 
repeated them on his bed of sickness : but he 
was told he must believe not only in the for- 
giveness of David's sins, or Peter's sins, but that 
he must believe in the forgiveness of his own sins. 
This truth became the inlet to pardon and peace 
to his soul; and on reading it I felt that my soul 
was being visited with celestial light ; and I was 
led to see that pardon of sin was a present and 
personal blessing. But I was not satisfied that 
I believed aright. 



16 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

" Shortly after, I was reading Romaine's 
* Life of Faith/ and came upon this sentiment, 
— That the weakest believer is as precious to 
Christ and as safe as the strongest The day- 
spring from on high visited me, and by and by, 
I felt myself bathed in the noon-tide radiance of 
Heaven's glorious light. The great Enlightener 
filled my soul with his transforming presence. 
He who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness had shined in my heart, ' to give the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ. ' I was conscious of a Di- 
vine Presence with me, and believed that the 
holy light which had entered my soul came di- 
rect from heaven. Christ from that moment 
became the great central object of my contempla- 
tion. Immediately that I became enlightened, 
Jesus appeared to be the centre, sum, and 
essence of Revelation, and with him as a key, I 
thought I could understand all that was ever 
written on the subject of religion. My spirit 
rejoiced in God my Saviour, and self and its ser- 
vices were thought of only to be condemned as 
utterly vile and worthless. Christ was all 
And as my soul was filled with divine light and 
glowing with the love of Jesus, I said to myself, 
as, in amazement, I remember the dreary past, 
— ' How could I have been so blind as not to see 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 



the way of salvation when it is so clearly re- 
vealed that ' Jesus Christ is all and in all, and 
we are complete in him' — not ' in him' and our 
own doings combined — but in him alone ? The 
truth is as clear as the sun at noon-day, that 
Jesus is himself the Sin-bearer and the Saviour, 
and I and my legal duties and conscientious 
penances are nothing but ' filthy rags.' I have 
read it a hundred times that Jesus came ' to 
seek and to save that which was lost/ and the 
same truth runs through the whole word of God, 
and* yet I never saw it until now. Oh, how 
blind I have been to the glory of Jesus ! How 
sad to think that I have read so much about 
him with the veil upon my heart, and have 
never seen his glory as a Saviour till this 
blessed hour! 7 I now wished that every one 
could see the Lord as I saw him. I wondered 
that they did not, and I thought I could point 
him out to them so clearly and distinctly, as 
made of God unto us ' wisdom, and righteous- 
ness, and sanctification, and redemption,' that it 
would be impossible for them not to believe in 
him, receive him as theirs, and be filled with 
heavenly joy ; but I found that ' old Adam was 
too strong ibr young Melancthon.' 

" About this time I heard a sermon which I 
wished to get good from ; but the minister was 
2* 



18 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



drawing to a close, and I had found nothing in 
all he had said to satisfy my soul, when as a 
concluding sentence he repeated the words, 
• Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that belie veth,' Rom. x. 4 ; and that 
was borne in upon my soul with much power of 
the Holy Ghost, so that I again found my heart 
filled with the light, life, and love of God. How 
clearly it appeared to me that Christ had in my 
stead satisfied all the demands of the law ! He 
had filled it up with his satisfaction from one 
end to the other, for thus I understood his being 
'the end of the law.' He has abolished the law 
as a ground of justification, by fulfilling every 
one of its many demands ; and he allows us to 
begin life with a rightedu^ciess as perfect as if 
we had fulfilled perfectly in our own persons 
every iota that the law of God exacts. I had no 
idea of this during my years of bondage ; and 
the consequence was, that in my blindness I 
presumptuously set about doing that which Christ 
had done for me, and which, had* I gone on for 
ever in the same legal track, I never could have 
done for myself. When one's eyes are opened 
by the Holy Ghost, how monstrous does it seem 
for the sinful creature to have been attempting 
to work out a righteousness which could be 
effected only by the Creator ! ' Christ is the 



INTRODUCTORY. 19 



end of the law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth,' and, believing in Jesus, I found 
that, instead of needing to begin to fulfill for my- 
self, I was privileged to begin at ' the end of the 
law.' Instead of looking forward to being able 
to complete the fulfillment, I found that, on believ- 
ing in Jesus, what I fancied would be the termi- 
nation of a life of obedience, I had now presented 
to me in the gospel of Christ as the point from 
which I was to start. To get Christ in a 
moment as my perfect righteousness, after going 
about for the best part of my past life to establish 
a righteousness of my own, on account of which 
I had vainly thought to render myself acceptable 
to God, that was to me ' as life from the dead.' 
Rom. xi. 15. n 

Is that my own experience ? No, it is not 
mine, but the experience of another, which, 
having been submitted to me when about to 
write this preface, I considered so suitable that 
I have written it out, and given it as one of the 
most satisfactory reasons I could present for 
issuing the present little volume. There can be 
no doubt but there are many cases like the above. 
I fear that not a few of the strictly religious in all 
our churches are ignorant of the "true grace of 
God," 1 Pet. v. 12, which gives Jesus as " the end 



t 

20 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



of the law for righteousness to every one that be- 
lie veth." I fear also that, in some cases, on 
account of a mixture of law and gospel in pub- 
lic instruction, inquirers are left with*the impres- 
sion that they have something to do in order to 
obtain "justification of life." Rom. v. 18. And 
when we consider the hundreds of thousands 
who are being awakened by the Holy Ghost 
throughout our own and other lands, I believe that 
we could not engage in a more needful service 
than the preparation of a work such as the pre- 
sent, wherein " the righteousness of God with- 
out the law is manifested, even the righteousness 
of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and 
upon all them that believe. Rom. iii. 21, 22. We 
sometimes hear " the claims of Jesus" pressed 
upon sinners ; but this is to confound Christ 
with Moses, and represent his salvation as only 
an amended republication of the law " given by 
Moses," forgetting that "grace and truth came 
by Jesus Christ." John i. 17. "The gospel 
strictly taken,* contains neither ' claims/ com- 
mands, nor threatenings, but is glad tidings of 
salvation to sinful men through Christ, revealed 
in doctrines and promises ; and these revealed to 
men as sinners, stout-hearted, and far from right- 
eousness. In the good news from heaven of 

* He means in its original literal sense of good news. 



INTRODUCTORY. 21 



help in God through Jesus Christ, for lost, self- 
destroyed creatures of Adam's race, there are no 
precepts. All these, the command to believe 
and repent not excepted, belong to and flow 
from the law.* The gospel is the report of a 
peace purchased by the Blood op Christ for 
poor sinners, and offered to them.f The gospel 
brings a sound of liberty to captives, of pardon 
to condemned criminals, of peace to rebels, a 
sound of life to the dead, and of salvation to 
them that lie on the borders of hell and condem- 
nation. J It is not, indeed, the gospel of itself, but 
Christ revealed therein, that heals the sinner. 
It is Christ that is to be received ; but he is re- 
ceived as offered in the gospel, and the gospel 
holds out Christ to the eye of faith. The gospel 
is with respect to Christ what the pole was 
with respect to the serpent. "§ The gospel does 
not therefore urge upon us claims which we can- 
not comply with, but it places before us the free 
grace of God in Christ Jesus, and permits us to 
claim the Son of God as our Redeemer, and 
through him to enjoy " all things" pertaining to 
the life of faith and the hope of glory. We are 
asked to give God nothing for salvation. He is 
the great Giver. Our proper position is to stand 
before him as beggars in the attitude of receiving. 

* Representee' Answers to Queries. f Boston. 

% Ebenezer Erskine. § Ralph Erskine. 



22 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



" He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him 
also freely give us all things ?" Rom. iii. 32. 

The gospel of the grace of God does not con- 
sist in pressing the duty denned by the words, 
" Give your heart to Christ," although that is 
often unwisely pressed upon inquirers after sal- 
vation as if it were the gospel ; but the very 
essence of the gospel is contained in the words, 
" Having liberty to enter into the holiest by the 
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, 
which he hath consecrated for us, through the 
veil, that is to say, his flesh ; and having an 
high-priest over the house of God, let .us draw 
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." 
Heb. x. 19-22. 

"Give your heart to Christ," is rather law 
than gospel. It is most proper that it should be 
done, for God himself demands it ; but merely 
urging the doing of it is far short of the gospel. 
The true gospel is, Accept the free gift of salva- 
tion from wrath and sin by receiving Jesus 
himself, and all the benefits he purchased with 
" His own Blood," Acts xx. 28", and your heart 
will be his in a moment, being given to him, not 
as a matter of law, but of love ; for, if you have the 
love of his heart poured into yours by his blessed 
Spirit, you will feel yourself under the constrain- 



INTRODUCTORY. 23 



ing influence of a spontaneous spiritual impulse 
to give him in return your heart, and all that you 
possess. It is right to give him your heart, but 
unless you first receive his, you will never give 
him yours. 

The design of the following pages is to exhibit 
" the true grace of God" " without the works of 
the law," and only " by the blood of Jesus." 
Heb. x. 19. Our great aim is the glory of Christ 
in the conversion of souls ; and the means em- 
ployed to accomplish that end are simple state- 
ments concerning the great Scripture truth, that 
we are saved at once, entirely, and forever, by 
the grace of God "who is rich in mercy," and 
that we have no part at all in the matter of our 
salvation save the beggar's part, of accepting it as 
a "free gift," procured for us by "the precious 
blood of Christ." 1 Pet, i. 19. And as many 
are struggling to get up something of their own 
as a price to bring to God to buy salvation of 
him, we have taken pains to show the entire 
uselessness of all such efforts ; and have pointed 
out, we think, with some degree of clearness, 
and by a variety of ways, that all true religion 
has a distinct beginning, and that that beginning 
dates from the time when a sinner stands at 
Calvary conscious of his utterly ruined condition, 
and realizes the truth that Jesus so completely 



24 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



satisfied God for sin, that he could say before he 
gave up the ghost, " It is finished," John xix. 
30, so that "we have redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the 
riches of his grace." Eph. i. 1. "He his own 
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree/' 
1 Pet. ii. 24, and thereby, " having made peace 
by the blood op his Cross," Col. i. 20, we 
may at once be " made nigh by the blood of 
Christ," Eph. ii. 13, without anything of our 
own. That God who hath set him forth, a " pro- 
pitiation through faith in his blood, to declare 
his righteousness," Rom. iii. 25, in pardoning sin, 
will pardon all sin through faith in him, for his 
own testimony is, that " the blood of Jesus 
Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 1 
John i. 1. 

" The blood of Jesus" is the ground of peace 
with God to every believing sinner below, and 
it will be the subject of the everlasting song of 
the redeemed above. It is our all for accept- 
ance with God, for pardon of sin, for "justifica- 
tion of life," for adoption into God's family, for 
holiness and glory. As the altar with its stream- 
ing blood stood at the very entrance of the an- 
cient tabernacle, so the Lord> Jesus Christ and 
" The Blood of His Cross" met us at the very 
entrance of the church of the redeemed. The 



INTRODUCTORY. 25 



blood-shedding of Jesus as "a propitiation for 
our sins," 1 John ii. 2, lies at the very threshold 
of the Christian life. It is the alphabet of Chris- 
tian experience to know the value of " the blood 
of sprinkling." Heb. xii. 24. The first step in the 
Christian course is into the " fountain opened." 
Zech. xiii. 1. 

"The blood of Jesus" is our great and only 
theme in the following pages. May the Divine 
Spirit make them to every reader " the power of 
God unto salvation." Rom. i. 16. 

In closing these prefatory pages, the writer 
may remark, that although it would have been 
both easy and delightful to have written it 
wholly himself, he has purposely introduced 
extracts from various writers belonging to dif- 
ferent sections of the Church of Christ — Episco- 
palians, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists,, 
etc., that the anxious inquirer may enjoy the 
benefit of having saving truth presented to him 
in a variety of aspects, and may, at the same 
time, feel the moral effect of observing the per- 
fect agreement of Spirit-taught Christians, in the 
different branches of the Church of Christ, with 
regard to one way of a sinner's acceptance with 
God, "by the blood of Jesus." 

It is again issued with the earnest prayer that 
the Holy Spirit would so bless it to all inquirers 
3 



26 THE BLOOD OE JESUS, 



who read it, that they may " enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus," Heb. x. 19, 
and learn to sing " with joyful lips," the re- 
demption song : " Unto him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto God and 
his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for- 
ever and ever. Aman." Rev. i. 5, 6. 

The Lamb of God. 

Behold the sin-atoning Lamb, 
With wonder, gratitude, and love ; 

To take away our guilt and shame, 
See him descending from above. 

Our sins and griefs on him were laid ; 

He meekly bore the mighty load ; 
Our ransom-price he fully paid 

In groans and tears, in sweat and blood. 

To save a guilty world he dies ; 

Sinners, behold the bleeding Lamb ! 
To him lift up your longing eyes, 

And hope for mercy in his name. 

Pardon and peace through him abound ; 

He can the richest blessings give ; 
Salvation in his name is found ; 

He bids the dying sinner live. 



CHAPTER II. 

FORGIVENESS OF SINS THROUGH THE 
BLOOD OF JESUS. 



<® 



II E God of Love, clear reader, in his 
written word gives an account of the 
rich mercy he has provided for the 
guilty, tells you that you may be saved. His 
word assures you that you may,, be saved 
from guilt, sin, and ivrath. And that word also 
informs you that your salvation depends not 
on anything you may do, but on what God 
has already done. Good news about God have 
reached our world, and in believing these glad 
tidings, you shall be saved. This is the good 
news, " God commendcth his love toward us, 
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us." Rom. v. 8. " For God so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. " Christ 
died for the ungodly." Rom. v. 6. "He hath 
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 

(27) 



28 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

that we might be made the righteousness of God 
in him." 2 Cor. v. 21. If, by simply believing 
the good news about what God through Christ 
hath done for sinners we become " partakers of 
Christ," Heb. iii. 14, and are " accepted in the 
Beloved," Eph. i. 6, it will become matter of per- 
sonal conscientiousness and spiritual joy that 
" we have redemption through his blood, the 
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his 
grace." Eph. i. T. " Be it known unto you 
therefore, that through this man is preached 
unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him 
all that believe are justified from all things." 
Acts xiii. 38. 

I beseech you to settle it in your mind that 
"forgiveness of sins" Acts xiii. 38, lies at the 
very threshold of the Christian life. It is a 
blessing needed and obtainable now. You must 
have forgiveness, or perish forever: you must 
have it now, or you cannot have peace. It is 
surely a most delightful thought that you may 
have the guilt of all your past sins Jblotted out at 
once and forever. God pardons freely and at 
once. He does not inculcate any preparation in 
order to pardon. One who knew the blessed- 
ness of enjoying his pardoning mercy testifies 
thus concerning it; "If we confess our sins, he 
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 



FORGIVENESS THROUGH JESUS. 29. 



cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 Joh|tt i. 
9 ; and this testimony was given on the ground 
of what he had affirmed in the same letter, that 
"the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin." 1 John i. T. He does not say, After you 
have repented more thoroughly, and after you 
have spent days and weeks in agonizing prayer, 
after you become more thoroughly instructed in 
divine things, and after you pass through years 
of " trouble and sorrow," then you may venture 
to hope for forgiveness. No ; but, knowing that 
Christ died to put away sin, you are warranted 
on simply taking the place of a sinner, and 
accepting of Jesus as your Saviour, to believe 
that, through the all-perfect merits of Christ, you 
are pardoned that very moment, and enjoy per- 
fect peace with God; for God "justifieth the 
ungodly." Rom. iv. 5. 

Peace with God through the forgiveness of 
all your sins may thus be obtained at any mo- 
ment, seeing that you do n.ot have to repent for 
it, work for it, or wait for it, but simply believe 
what God says regarding Christ " having made 
peace by the blood of his cross." Col. i. 20. 
"And being justified freely by his grace, 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," 
Rom. iii. 24 — and being fully satisfied that your 
sin has been forgiven you in a righteous way,, 
3* 



30 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



being put away by " the precious blood of Christ," 
1 Pet. i. 19 — God being " well pleased for his 
righteousness' sake," Isa. xlii. 12 — " just, and the 
justifier of him that belie veth in Jesus," Rom. 
iii. 26 — " peace that passeth all understanding," 
Phil. iv. 7, will spring up spontaneously within 
your soul like the fresh, flowing current of a per- 
ennial fountain. 

In reference to the pardon of your sins there 
is no time to be lost, for " the Holy Ghost saith, 
To-day," Heb. iii. T ; and were you now refusing 
to listen, and dying in your sins ere to-morrow's 
sun arose, you would inevitably perish eternally, 
notwithstanding your conviction of sin, and anxi- 
eties of soul ; for Jesus himself assures us that 
" he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 
xvi. 16. Beside you can do nothing else that will 
prove satisfactory to yourself, or well-pleasing 
to God, until you have obtained the forgiveness 
of your sins. And as pardon of sin is the first 
thing that you feel in need of, so it is the first 
thing which is presented by the God of love for 
your acceptance; for God is still to be found 
"in Christ reconciling sinners unto himself, 
not imputing their trespasses unto them:" 2 
Cor. v. 19. Moreover, you will have your whole 
life and character affected in a most striking 
way by the scrip turalness or unscripturalness of 



FORGIVENESS THROUGH JESUS. 31 



the views you now entertain of " the God of all 
grace/' 1 Pet. v. 10, and the heartiness or hesi- 
tancy with which you embrace his pardoning 
mercy. As a man's position in the world is very 
materially affected by the character of his 
elementary education and early training, so is 
the position of even true believers in Christ ma- 
terially affected, not only in this world but in 
the world to come, by their being thoroughly 
grounded or not grounded in the great elemen- 
tary truths of the gospel of the grace of God, 
which preaches present pardon and immediate 
peace "to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. 
Your position, as well as destiny for time and 
for eternity, are now to be determined ! It is, 
therefore, of the last importance that you should 
have thoroughly scriptural views and an intelli- 
gent experience of the grace of God as it is mani- 
fested to you, a sinner, in the person and work 
of his Son Jesus Christ. And again, the charac- 
ter of your service for God, and your success in 
winning souls, will very greatly depend upon 
the clearness with which you realize your own 
salvation through the blood of Christ at the com- 
mencement of your Christian course ; for how 
could you labor faithfully to bring others to feel the 
constraining power of the love of Christ, unless 
you yourself felt assured that he loved you per- 



32 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



sonally and put away your sin ? The most use- 
ful life must ever be that which is firmly based on 
a knowledge of Christ crucified as the sole ground 
of acceptance with God, and on being justified, 
and having peace "through our Lord Jesus 
Christ who died for us." 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. It 
will be found that those who do most for God 
and their fellow-sinners are such as the Rev. 
Robert M'Cheyne, who knew himself to be for- 
given by God and safe for eternity — of whom his 
biographer says, that " he walked calmly in 
almost unbroken fellowship with the Father and 
the Son ;" and who himself describes his own 
undoubted conversion in the only record he has 
left of it :— 

" When free grace awoke me, by light from on high, 
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die ; 
No refuge, no safety in self could I see — 
Jehovah Tsidkenu * my Saviour must be. 

" My terrors all vanish'd before the sweet name, 
My guilty fears vanish'd, with boldness I came 
To drink at the Fountain, life-given and free — 
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me." 

* Translation — The Lord Qur Righteousness. 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW OUR SINS ARE TAKEN AWAY BY 
THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

/f%|pO HERE is every reason why you should 
§rw$\ notv intelligently and believingly be* 
*^ hold the Lamb of God " which taketh 
away the sin of the world." John i. 29. You 
are not directed in this passage to a Saviour who 
has already " taken away the sin of the world," 
but to him who "taketh away the sin of the 
world." The meaning plainly is, that Jesus is 
the God-appointed Taker-away of sin for the 
world. We find him asserting this, when he 
says, " The Son of man hath power on earth to 
forgive sins," Matt. ix. 6 ; " All power," or au- 
thority, " is given me in heaven and on earth." 
Matt, xxviii. 18. Jesus is the only and the all- 
sufficient, as he is the authorized, Taker-away 
of sin, for the world at large. The whole world 
is brought in guilty before God, " for all have 
sinned," Rom. iii. 23 ; and the true gospel of God 
is, that when any one belonging to our sinful 

(33) 



34 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



world feels his sin to be oppressive, and comes 

straight to " the Lamb of God" with it, and 

frankly acknowledges it, and tells out his anxieties 

regarding it, and his desire to get rid of it, he 

will find that Jesus has both the power and the 

will to take it away ; and on seeing it removed 

from him by " the blood of his cross," Col. i. 20, 

" as far as the east is from the west," Ps. ciii. 12, 

he will be enabled to sing with a grateful heart 

and " joyful lips:" — 

• 
" I lay my sins on Jesus, 

The spotless Lamb of God ; 
He bears them all, and frees us 
From the accursed load. ,; 

You can never make an atonement for your 
past sins, nor by personal obedience procure a 
title to the inheritance of glory ; but. Jesus is 
willing to take away all your sins, and to give 
you his own title to the glorious kingdom, if you 
will only consent to intrust him alone with your 
salvation. 

" Well," you may perhaps resolve, " I will go 
to him and cast myself upon his mercy, and ' if 
I perish, I perish.' " Ah, but you need not go 
to him in that spirit, for it throws a doubt upon 
the all-sufficiency of his completed atonement 
for sin, and his perfect spotless life of obedience. 

Jesus himself says, " God so loved the world 



JESUS TAKES AWAY SIN. 35 



that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." John iii. 16. These being 
the "true sayings of God," Rev. xix. 9, where, 
O friend, is there the least cause for you saying, 
with hesitancy and doubt, " If I perish, I per- 
ish?" Esther iv. 16. The proper thought you 
ought to have in reference to the glorious gos- 
pel is this ; God has so loved the world as to 
give his only-begotten Son to die for sinners, and 
he assures ine that if I, a perishing sinner, believe 
in him, I shall not perish, but have everlasting 
life ; I believe his word, and reckon that if he gave 
his Son to die for us when we were yet sinners, 
he will with him also freely give all such things as 
pardon and purity, grace and glory; and if, in 
accordance with his own gracious invitation, I 
rest my soul upon his manifested love, in Christ 
Jesus I believe that it will be as impossible for 
me to perish, as for God to change his nature, or 
to cancel the word of grace and truth, that the 
"blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us 
from all sin." 1 John i. T. 

God the Father loved sinners so much as to 
send Jesus to die for them. Jesus loved sinners 
so much as to lay down his life for their re- 
demption. The Holy Spirit loves sinners so 
much that he has written a record of God's mani- 
fested love to them in Jesus Christ, and he him- 



36 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



self has come down in person, to reveal that love 
to their souls, that they may be saved. And if 
you, anxious one, will now agree to God's 
method of transferring all that Divine justice de- 
mands of you to Jesus, " who was made of a 
woman, made under the law," who perfectly 
obeyed and pleased the Father, in his holy life, 
and in death endured and exhausted the penalty 
due to sin, you will obtain pardon, peace, grace, 
and holiness; the full tide of the love of God, 
which passeth knowledge, will flow into your 
soul, and in the spirit of adoption, you will cry, 
" Abba, Father," Gal. iv. 6, feel the constraining 
influence of the love of Christ, and live to the 
glory of " Him who died for us and rose again." 
That I may make the method of a sinner's 
salvation so " plain, that he that readeth it," 
Hab. ii. 2, may have his mind's eye so full of its 
meaning, " that he may run" at once to Jesus 
Christ, as his Divine sin-bearer, I will present 
the following feomely and unmistakable illustra- 
tion : While standing one day on the platform 
of the Aberdeen Station of the North-E astern 
Railway, I observed a car with a board on it 
intimating that it ran all the way from Aber- 
deen to London. The doors of it were open, 
the porters were putting passengers' luggage^on 
the top of it, and a few individuals were enter- 



JRSUS TAKES AWAY SIN. 37 



ing, or about to enter, its different compartments. 
They looked for this particular car as soon as 
they had passed through the ticket-office, and 
on seeing " London" on it, they threw in their 
travelling-rugs, entered, and, seating themselves, 
prepared for the journey. 

Having furnished themselves with tickets and 
railway guides, and satisfied themselves that 
they were in the right car, they felt the utmost 
confidence, and I did not observe any one of them 
coming out of the car, and running about in a 
state of excitement, calling to those around them, 
" Am I right ? am I right ?" 

Nor did I see any one refusing to enter, be- 
cause the car provided for only a limited num- 
ber to proceed by that train. There might be 
eighty thousand inhabitants in and around the 
city, but still there was not one who talked of 
it as absurd to provide accommodation for only 
about twenty persons, for practically it was 
found to be sufficient. Trains leave the city 
several times a-day, and it is found that one car 
for London in the train is quite sufficient for 
the number of passengers ; and on the particu- 
lar day to which I now refer, I noticed, that so 
ample was the accommodation, that one of the 
passengers had a whole compartment to himself. 
The carriage is for the whole city and neighbor- 
4 



38 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



hood, but carries only such of the inhabitants as 
come and seat themselves in it from day to day. 

God, in his infinite wisdom, has made pro- 
vision of a similar kind for our lost world. He 
has provided a train of grace to carry as many 
of its inhabitants to heaven, the great metropo- 
lis of the universe, as are willing to avail them- 
selves of the gracious provision. 

When we call you by the preaching of the 
gospel, the meaning is, that all who will may 
come, and passing through the booking-office of 
justification by faith alone, seat themselves in a 
earmarked, "From Guilt to Glory ." Whenever 
you hear the free and general offer of salva- 
tion, you need not stand revolving the ques- 
tion in your own mind, "Is it for me V for just 
as the railway company carry all who comply 
with their printed regulations, irrespective of 
moral character, so if you come to the station' 
of grace at the advertised time, which is " now," 
— for " Behold now is the accepted time," 2 Cor. 
vi. 2, — you will find the train of salvation ready ; 
and the only regulation to be complied with by 
you, in order to your being carried by it, is that 
you consent to let the Lord Jesus Christ charge 
himself with paying for your seat, which cannot 
surely be anything but an easy and desirable ar- 
rangement, seeing you have no means of paying 
for yourself. 



JESUS TAKES AWAY SIN. 39 



Were you coming to the railway-station with 
no money in your pocket, and anxious to travel 
by a train ready to start, in order to be put in 
possession of a valuable inheritance left to you 
by a friend ; and were any one to meet you at 
the door of the ticket-office, and say, " I will 
pay your fare for you," you would not feel any- 
thing but the utmost satisfaction in complying 
with such a regulation ; and is it not an easy 
matter for you on coming to the station of mercy 
to submit to the regulation of the gospel to let 
Jesus pay your fare for the train of grace, that 
you may take your seat with confidence, and be 
carried along the new and living way to ever- 
lasting glory ? 

If we want to know the gospel and be saved, 
we must know Jesus as our Sin-bearer ; for 
" Christ crucified is the sum of the gospel and the 
richness of it. Paul was so taken with Jesus 
that nothing sweeter than Jesus could drop from 
his pen and lips. It is observed that he hath the 
word Jesus five hundred times in his epistles."* 
" Jesus" was his constant subject of meditation, 
and out of the good treasure of the heart his 
mouth spoke and his pen wrote. He felt that 
Christ was made of God unto him " wisdom and 
righteousness, and sanctification and redemption," 
1 Cor. i. 30, and glorying in the Lord and in his 
* Charnock, 1684. 



40 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



cross, he determined not to know anything 
among those to whom he preached and wrote, 
" save Jesns Christ and Him crucified." 1 Cor. 
ii. 2. That faith which is not built on a dying 
Christ is but a perilous dream : God awaken all 
from it that are in it ! 

1 Christ alone is our salvation — 

Christ the rock on which we stand ; 
Other than this sure foundation 

Will be found but sinking sand. 
Christ, his cross and resurrection, 

Is alone the sinner's plea ; 
At the throne of God's perfection, 

Nothing else can set him free. 

" We have all things, Christ possessing, 

Life eternal, second birth ; 
Present pardon, peace and blessing 

While we tarry here on earth ; 
And by faith's anticipation, 

Foretastes of the joy above, 
Freely given us with salvation, 

By the Father in his love. 

"When we perfect joy shall enter, 

'Tis in him our bliss will rise ; 
He's the essence, soul, and centre 

Of the glory in the skies : 
In redemption's wondrous story, 

(Plann'd before our parents' fall,) 
From the Cross unto the Glory; 

Jesus Christ is all in all." 



CHAPTER IY. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS, NOT CONVICTION OF SIN, 
THE FOUNDATION OF OUR PEACE AND JOY. 

F the Holy Ghost be awakening you to a 
true apprehension of your danger as a rebel 
against God's authority, — a guilty, pol- 
luted, hell-deserving sinner, — you must be in a 
deeply anxious state of mind, and such questions 
as these must be ever present with' you : — 
"What must I do to be saved? What is the 
true ground of a sinner's peace with God ? What 
am I to believe in order to be saved ?" Well, 
in so far as laying the foundation of your recon- 
ciliation is concerned, I wish you to observe that 
you have nothing to do ; for the Almighty 
Surety of sinners said on Calvary, "It is fin- 
ished." John xix. 30. Jesus has done all that 
the Holy Jehovah deemed necessary to be done 
to insure complete pardon, acceptance, and sal- 
vation to all who believe in his name. If you 
take Jesus as your Saviour, you will build securely- 
for eternity. " For other foundation can no man 
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. " 1 

4 * (41) 



42 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



Cor. iii. 11. He is the foundation-stone of sal- 
vation laid by God himself, and on his finished 
atoning work alone you are instructed to rest the 
salvation of your soul, and not on anything ac- 
complished by you, wrought in you, felt by you, 
or proceeding from you. It is of the last import- 
ance to be clear as to the fact that it is the 
work of Christ without you, and not the work of 
the Spirit within you, that must form the sole 
ground of your deliverance from guilt and wrath, 
and of peace with God. You must beware of 
resting your peace on your feelings, convictions, 
tears, repentance, prayers, duties, or resolutions. 
You must begin with receiving Christ, and not 
make that the termination of a course of fancied 
preparation. Christ must be the Alpha and 
Omega. He must be everything in our salva- 
tion, or he will be nothing. Beware lest you 
fall into the common mistake of supposing that 
you will be more welcome to accept of Christ be- 
cause you are brought through a terrible process 
of "law-work." You are as welcome to Christ 
now as you will ever be. Wait not for deeper 
conviction of sin, for why should you prefer 
convictions to Christ ? And you would not have 
one iota more safety although you had deeper 

^convictions of sin than any sinner ever had. 

'*•' Convictions of sin are precious ; but they bring 



FOUNDATION OF PEACE AND JOY. 43 



no safety, no peace, no salvation, no security, 
but war, and storm, and trouble. It is well to 
be awakened from sleep when danger is hanging 
over us ; but to awake from sleep is not to esoape 
from danger. It is only to be sensible of dan- 
ger, nothing more. In like manner, to be con- 
vinced of your sins is merely to be made sensi- 
ble that your soul is in danger. It is no more. 
It is not deliverence. Of itself it can bring no 
deliverance ; it tells of no Saviour. It merely 
tells us that we need one. Yet there are many 
who, when they have had deep convictions of sin, 
strong terrors of the law, congratulate themselves 
as if all were well. They say, ' Ah, I have been 
convinced of sin ; I have been under terrors, it is 
well with me; I am safe.' Well with you? 
Safe ? Is it well with the seaman when he awakes 
and finds his vessel going to pieces upon the 
rocks amid the fury of the whelming surge ? Is 
it well with the sleeper when he awakes at mid- 
night amid the flames of his dwelling ? Does 
he say, 'Ah, it is well with me ; I have seen the 
flames V In this way sinners are not unfre- 
quently led to be content with some resting- 
place short of the appointed one. Anxiety to 
have deep convictions and contentment with 
them after they have been experienced, are too 
often the means which Satan uses for turning 



44 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



away the sinner's eye from the perfect work of 
Jesus, who himself bore our sins in his own 
body on the tree. Our peace with God, our 
forgiveness, our reconciliation, flow wholly from 
the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus. 

"Behold, then, Spirit-convinced soul, the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world ! In his death upon the cross, behold the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world ! In his death upon the cross, behold the 
mighty sacrifice, the ransom for the sins of many ! 
See there the sum of all his obedience and 
sufferings ! Behold the finished work ! — a 
work of stupendous magnitude, which he alone 
could have undertaken and accomplished ! Be- 
hold our sacrifice, our finished sacrifice, our per- 
fected redemption, the sole foundation of our 
peace, and hope, and joy. ' He his own self bare 
our sins in his own body on the tree.' 1 Pet. 
ii. 24. It is not said that our duties, or our 
prayers, or our fastings, or our convictions of 
sin, or our repentance, or our honest life, or our 
alms-deeds, or our faith, or our grace — it is not 
said that these bore our sins ; it was Jesus, Jesus 
himself, Jesus alone, Jesus, and none but Jesus, 
1 bore our sins in his own body on the tree.' 
Rest, then, in nothing short of peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 



FOUNDATION OF PEACE AND JOY. 45 



" Christ has done the mighty work ; 
Nothing left for us to do, 
But to enter on his toil, 
Enter on his triumph too. 

" His the labor, ours the rest; 

His the death, and ours the life ; 
Ours the fruits of victory, 
His the agony and strife." 



CHAPTER V. 

A LETTER ABOUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

URGE you," wrote an eminent author to 
a dying man, "I urge you to cast yourself 
at once, in the simplest faith, upon the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. All 
your true preparation for death is entirely out 
of yourself, and in the Lord Jesus. Washed 
in his blood, and clothed upon with his righteous- 
ness, you may appear before God divinely, fully, 
freely, and forever accepted. The salvation of the 
chief of sinners is all prepared, finished, and com- 
plete in Christ. Eph. i. 6 ; Col. ii. 10. Again, 
I repeat, your eye of faith must now be directed 
.entirely, out of and. from yourself, to Jesus. 
Beware of looking for any preparation to meet 
death in yourself. It is all in Christ. God 
does not accept you on the ground of a broken 
heart — or a clean heart — or a praying heart — or 
a believing heart. He accepts you wholly and 
entirely on the ground of the atonement of his 
blessed Son. Cast yourself, in childlike faith, 

(46) 



A LETTER ON THE SUBJECT. 47 



upon that atonement-—' Christ dying for the un- 
godly,'' Rom. v. 6,— and you are saved ! Justifi- 
cation is this, a poor law-condemned, self-con- 
demned, self-destroyed sinner, wrapping himself 
by faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, ' which is unto all and upon all them that 
believe. ' Rom. iii. 22. He, then, is justified, 
and is prepared to die, and he only who casts 
from him the garment of his own righteousness 
and runs into this blessed ' City of Refuge' — the 
Lord Jesus — and hides himself there from the 
1 revenger of blood/ exclaiming, in the language 
of triumphant faith,-' There is now no condem- 
nation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' Rom. 
viii. 1. Look to Jesus, then, for a contrite heart 
— look to Jesus for a clean heart — look to Jesus 
for a believing heart — look to Jesus for a loving 
heart — and Jesus will give you all. One faith's 
touch of Christ, and one divine touch from 
Christ, will save the vilest sinner. Oh, the 
dimmest, most distant glance of faith, turning its 
languid eye upon Christ, will heal and save the 
soul. God is prepared to accept you in his 
blessed Son, and for his sake he will cast all 
your sins behind his back, and take you to glory 
when you die. Never was Jesus known to 
reject a poor sinner that came to him empty and 
with [ nothing to pay.' God will glorify his free 



48 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



grace in your salvation, and will therefore save 
you just as you are, ' without money and without 
price.' Isa. lv. 1. I close with Paul's reply to 
the anxious jailor, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' Acts xvi. 31. 
No matter what you have been, or what you 
are, plunge into the 'fountain opened for sin 
and for uncleanness,' Zech. xiii. 1, and you shall 
be clean, 'washed whiter than snow.' Ps. li. 7. 
Heed no suggestion of Satan, or of unbelief. Cast 
yourself at the feet of Jesus, and if you perish, 
perish there ! Oh, no ! perish you never will, 
for he hath said, 'Him that cometh to me I will 
in no wise cast out.' John vi. 31. ' Come unto 
me,' Matt. xi. 28, is his blessed invitation; let 
your reply be, ' Lord, I come ! I come ! I come ! 
I entwine my feeble, trembling arms of faith 
around thy cross, around Thyself, and if I die, I 
will die cleaving, clinging, looking unto thee !' 
So act and believe, and you need not fear to 
die. Looking at the Saviour in the face, you can 
look at death in the face, exclaiming with good 
old Simeon, ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
depart- in peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation.' Lukeii. 29. May we, through rich, 
free, and sovereign grace, meet in heaven, and 
unite together in exclaiming, ' Worthy is the 
Lamb : for he was slain for us !' " Rev. v. 12 



A LETTER ON THE SUBJECT. 49 



How glorious is Thy name 
Through all the ransom'd host, 

worthy Lamb, who came 
To seek and save the lost I 

Thou art, beyond compare, 
Most precious in our sight ! 

Than sons of men more fair, 
And infinite in might ! 

Thy perfect work divine 

Makes us forever blest ; 
Here truth and mercy shine, 

And men with God do rest." 



Note. — Some time ago, the Rev. Dr. Winslow, of Bath, 
received a letter from a youth, apparently near death, ask- 
ing him to reply to it in the columns of our periodical, 
which he did, and the above quotation contains the most 
important part of his reply. The subjoined are Dr. Win- 
slow'snote to the author, and the youth's interesting note 
to Dr. Winslow : — 

"My Dear Sir,— A few days ago, I received the fol- 
lowing note. Will you allow a brief reply to the all-im- 
portant question it contains, through the columns of your 
wide-spread and most useful journal ? I write hurriedly, 
and on a journey, but I will endeavor to make the apos- 
tle's reply to the awakened jailor my model for point and 
conciseness. And, oh, may the same Divine Spirit apply 
the answer with like immediate and saving result ! — 
" * To the Rev. Dr. Winslow. 

" « Dear Sir, — You would greatly oblige a sinner, if 
5 



50 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

you would write a piece .... for September, and tell him 
what he must do to prepare to die — what is the prepara- 
tion required by God — and when he is fit to die. By your 
doing so, you will greatly oblige a young person who feels 
that his time is short in this world. Now, what is justifi- 
cation ? and when is a sinner justified ?' " 




CHAPTER VI. 

SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE 
GIFT OF GOD. 

EAR Reader, — As I am anxious that 
the one grand theme — salvation through 
the blood-shedding of Jesus alone — 
should be set before you in a variety of aspects, 
that, if you miss it in one, you may realize it in 
another, I would now present it as a gift of 
grace. " For by grace are ye saved." Eph. ii. 
8. " The gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vi. 23. " For 
God so loved the world that he gave his only-be- 
gotten Son, that whosover believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
John iii. 16. "Here," says Thomas Becon, one 
of the English Reformers, "God, who is infinite 
and unspeakable, gives after such a manner as 
passeth all things. For that which he gives he 
gives not as the wages of desert, but of mere 
love. This sort of giving, which has its spring 
in love, makes this gift more excellent and pre- 

(51) 



52 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



cious. And the words of Christ are plain that 
God loveth us. And as God, the Giver, is ex- 
ceedingly great, so is the gift that he giveth, 
which is his only Son. Let us understand that 
God is not said to be angry with the world, but 
to love it, in that he gave his Son for it. God is 
merciful to us and loveth us, and of very love gave 
his Son unto us, that we should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. And as God giveth by 
love and mercy, so do we take and receive by 
faith and not otherwise. Faith only — that is, 
trust in the mercy and grace of God — is the 
very hand by which we take this gift. This gift 
is given to make us safe from death and sin. 
And it is bestowed upon the world, and the 
world signifies all mankind. Why shouldest 
thou not suffer thyself to be of this name, see- 
ing that Christ with plain words saith, that God 
gave not his Son only for Maiy, Peter, and Paul, 
but for the world, that all should receive him 
that are the sons of men ? Then if thou or I 
should receive him as if he did not appertain to 
us, truly it would consequently follow that 
Christ's words are not true, whereas he saith he 
was given and delivered for the world. Where- 
fore hereof appears that the contrary thereto is 
most assuredly true, that this gift belongs as 
well unto thee as to Peter and Paul, forasmuch 



^SALVATION THE GIFT OF GOD. 53 

as thou also art a man as they were, and a por- 
tion of the world. . . . Whatsoever I am, God 
is not to be taken as unfaithful to his promise. 
I am a portion of the world, wherefore if I take 
not this gift as mine, I make God untrue. But 
thou wilt say, ' Why does he not show this to me 
alone ? Then I would believe, and think surely 
that it appertained to me.' But it is for a great 
consideration that God speaks here so generally, 
to the intent, verily, that no man should think 
that he is excluded from this promise and gift. 
He that excludes himself must give an account 
why he does so. 'I will not judge them, ? saith 
he, ' but they shall be judged of their own 
mouth. ' . . . We are saved, then, only by the 
mercy of God ; and we obtain this grace only by 
faith, without virtue, without merits, and without 
works. For the whole matter, that is necessary 
to the getting of everlasting life and remission 
of sins, is altogether and fully comprehended in 
the love and mercy of God through Christ." 

" Blessed be God our God! 
Who gave for us his well-beloved Son, 
His gift of gifts, all other gifts in one. 
Blessed be God our God ! 
" He spared not his Son ! 
'Tis this that silences each rising fear, 
'Tis this that bids the hard thought disappear ; 

He spared not his Son !" 
5* 



54 THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 



"I must say," wrote Dr. Chalmers, in a letter 
to a friend, " that I never had so close and satis- 
factory a view of the gospel salvation as when 
I have been led to contemplate it in the light of 
a simple offer on the one side, and a simple ac- 
ceptance on the other. It is just saying to one 
and all of us, ' There is forgiveness through the 
blood of my Son : take it ;' and whoever be- 
lieves the reality of the offer takes it. 

" It is not in any shape the reward of our 
own services ; ... it is the gift of God through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not given because 
you are worthy to receive it, but because it is a 
gift wortliy of our hind and reconciled Father 
to bestow. 

"We are apt to stagger at the greatness of 
the unmerited offer, and cannot attach faith to it 
till we have made up some title of our own. 
This leads to two mischievous consequences. It 
keeps alive the presumption of one class of 
Christians, who will still be thinking that it is 
something in themselves and of themselves 
which confers upon them a right of salvation ; 
and it confirms the melancholy of another class, 
who look into their own hearts and their own 
lives, and find that they cannot make out a 
shadow of a title to the divine favor. The 
error of both lies in their looking to themselves 



SALVATION THE GIFT OF GOD. 55 



when they should be looking to the Saviour. 
1 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends 
of the earth.' Isa. xlv. 22. 

" The Son of man was so lifted up that who- 
soever believeth in him should not perish but 
have everlasting life. John iii. 14, 15. It is 
your part simply to lay hold of the proffered 
boon. You are invited to do so ; you are en- 
treated to do so ; nay, what is more, you are 
commanded to do so. It is true you are unwor- 
thy, and without holiness no man can see God ; 
but be not afraid, only believe ! You cannot get 
holiness of yourself, but Christ has undertaken 
to provide it for you. It is one of those spiritual 
blessings of which he has the dispensation, and 
which he has promised to all who believe in 
him. 

" God has promised that with his Son he will 
freely give you all things, Rom. viii. 32 ; that 
he will walk in you, and dwell in you, 2 Cor. vi. 
16 ; that he will purify your heart by faith, 
Acts xv. 9 ; that he will put his law in your 
mind, and write it in your heart. Heb. viii. 10. 

" These are the effects of your believing in 
Christ, and not the services by which you be- 
come entitled to believe in him. Make a clear 
outset in the business, and understand that 
your first step is simply a confiding acceptance of 



56 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



an offer that is most free, most frank, most gen- 
erous, and most unconditional. 

"If I were to come as an accredited agent 
from the upper sanctuary with a letter of invi- 
tation to you, with your name and address on it, 
you would not doubt your warrant to accept it. 
Well, here is the Bible, your invitation to come 
to Christ. It does not bear your name and ad- 
dress, but it says 'Whosoever' — that takes you 
in ; it says ' all 1 — that takes you in ; it says ' if 
any 1 — that takes you in. What can be surer or 
freer than that?" 

"We glory," says old Traill of London, "in 
any name of reproach (as the honorable reproach 
of Christ) that is cast upon us for asserting the 
absolute boundless freedom of the grace of God, 
which excludes all merit and everything like it ; 
the absoluteness of the covenant of grace, for the 
covenant of redemption was plainly and strictly 
a conditional one, and the noblest of all conditions 
was in it. 

" The Son of God's taking on him man's na- 
ture, and offering it in sacrifice, was the strict 
condition of all the glory and reward promised to 
Christ and his seed, Isa. liii. 10, 11, wherein all 
things are freely promised, and that faith that 
is required for sealing a man's interest in the cove- 
nant is promised in it, and wrought by the grace 



SALVATION THE GIFT OP GOD. 57 



of it. Eph. ii. 8. That faith at first is wrought 
by, and acts upon, a full and absolute offer of 
Christ, and of all his fullness ; an offer that 
hath no condition in it, but that native one to 
all offers, acceptance : and in the very act of this 
acceptance, the acceptor doth expressly disclaim 
all things in himself, but sinfulness and misery. 

11 That faith in Jes^is Christ doth justify 
(although, by the way, it is to be noted that it 
is never written in the word that faith justifieth 
actively, but always passively, that a man is jus- 
tified by faith, and that God justifieth men by 
and through faith ; yet admitting the phrase) only 
as a mere instrument, receiving that imputed 
righteousness of Christ for which we are justi- 
fied ; and that this faith in the office of justifica- 
tion, is neither condition, nor qualification, nor 
our gospel righteousness, but in its very act a 
renouncing of all such pretences. 

" We proclaim the market of grace to be free. 
Isa. lv. 1-3. It is Christ's last offer and lowest. 
Rev. xxii. 11. If there be any price or money 
spoken of, it is no price, no money. And where 
such are the terms and conditions, if we be 
forced to call them so, we must say, that they 
look liker a renouncing than a boasting of any 
qualifications or conditions. Surely the terms 






58 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



of the gospel bargain are, God's free giving 
and our free taking and receiving. JJ 

It is quite natural for us, born as we are, 
under the law, and brought up under the restrain- 
ing influences of religion and civilization, to sup- 
pose that we can be saved only by conforming to 
certain rules and complying with certain condi- 
tions. It is dim cult to lay aside the performing 
of all duties as a means of being accepted gra- 
ciously by God, and to submit to be sought 
and saved simply as lost sinners, by a loving Re- 
deemer, who delivers us from guilt, corruption, 
and perdition, " without money and without 
price. " Isa. lv. 1. 

An eminent writer of the last century says 
truly : — " The gospel is much clouded by legal 
terms, conditions, and qualifications. If my doc- 
trine were, Upon condition that you did so and 
so — that you believe, and repent, and mourn, 
and pray, and obey, and the like — then you shall 
have the favor of God — I dare not for my life say 
that is the gospel. But the gospel I desire to 
preach to you is, Will you have a Christ to work 
faith, repentance, love, and all good in you, and 
to stand between you and the sword of Divine 
wrath ? Here there is no room for you to object 
that you are not qualified, because you are such 



SALVATION THE GIFT OF GOD. 59 



a hardened, unhumbled, blind, and stupid wretch. 
For the question is not, Will you remove these 
evils, and then come to Christ? but Will you 
have a Christ to remove them for you ? It is 
because you are plagued with these diseases that / 
I call you to come to the Physician that he may 
heal them. Are you guilty? I offer him unto 
you for righteousness. Are you polluted ? I 
offer him unto you for sanctification. Are you 
miserable and forlorn ? I offer him as made of 
God unto you complete redemption. Are you 
hard-hearted ? I offer him in that promise, ' I 
will take away the heart of stone.' Ezek. xxxvi. 
26. Are you content that he break your hard 
heart? Come, then, and put your hard heart 
into his hand." 

" I've found the pearl of greatest price ! 
My heart doth sing for joy ; 
And sing I must, A Christ I have ! 
Oh, what a Christ have I ! 

"My Christ, he is the Lord of lords, 
He is the King of kings ; 
He is the Sun of Righteousness, 
With healing in his wings. 

" My Christ, he is the Tree of Life 
Which in God's garden grows ; 
Whose fruits do feed, whose leaves do heal ; 
My Christ is Sharon's Rose. 



gO THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



Christ is my meat, Christ is my drink, 

My medicine and my health : 
My peace, my strength, my joy, my crown, 

My glory, and my wealth." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS OUR ONLY GROUND OF 
PEACE WITH GOD. 

(jlt\(^ HE 1ST you, who are anxious about 
uFJKI y° ur sou l> are bearing much prayer 
r^±S offered by Christians for the Holy 
Spirit, you may conclude that the first thing 
you also have to do is to pray for the Holy 
Spirit ; but Jesus himself sets you right in this 
matter when he says, " This is the work of God, 
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." 
John vi. 29. If you desire to do this at the 
throne of grace, by all means repair thither, but 
do not go to it to do anything else at present. 
Believers in Jesus pray "in the Holy Ghost," 
Jude 20, that he may revive the work of God in 
themselves and in their fellow-believers, — lead 
awakened souls to Jesus, — and convince sinners 
of their wickedness and unbelief; but as your 
only foundation for peace, pardon, purity, and 
glory, is to be found in the blood-shedding of 
Jesus, your more immediate occupation is to 
6 (61) 



62 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



" behold the Lamb of God. 1 ' John i. 29. No 
doubt, the quickening presence of the Holy Spirit 
is most essential to your seeing Jesus to the 
saving of your soul, and $ou should by all means 
expect his gracious presence to be vouchsafed as 
you contemplate the crucified Redeemer ; but it 
is unscriptural to seek the sanctification of your 
heart through the Spirit before the justification 
of your person through Christ ; and it is equally 
unscriptural to mix the two, and depend partly 
on the one and partly on the other ; for Jesus, 
and Jesus only, is the object on which your 
anxious eyes must rest for peace with God and 
a change of heart. "It is Christ that died," 
Rom. viii. 34 ; and the Spirit's office is to direct 
you to him who said on Calvary, " It is fin- 
ished." John xix. 30. It is nowhere written 
in Scripture, The work of God's Holy Spirit 
cleanseth us from sin ; but it is written that 
" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." I Johni. 7. What you are called 
upon, then, more especially to do, is to receive 
Jesus as your redeemer, that you may "have re- 
demption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace," Eph. 
i. 7 ; for it is written, " As many as received 
him, to them gave he power to become the sons 
of God, even to them that believe on his name." 



GROUND OF PEACE WITH GOD. 63 



John i. 12. We are not required to be prepared 
as sons, and then come and be accepted of God, 
be justified, and have our sins pardoned through 
Jesus; but we are instructed to come to Jesus 
in order to our being justified freely by his grace, 
and made sons through living union with him 
who is the eternal Son of God. We are justified 
freely as sinners, and being thus accepted in the 
Beloved, we become sons of God, and have 
the nature, and experience, and walk of his chil- 
dren. Awakened sinner! begin at the begin- 
ning of the alphabet of salvation, by looking 
upon him who was pierced on Calvary's cross 
for our sins ; look to the Lamb of God, and keep 
continually looking unto Jesus, and not at your 
repentings, resolutions, reformations, praying, 
reading, hearing, or anything of yours as form- 
ing any reason why you should be accepted, 
pardoned, and saved, — and you will soon find 
peace, and take your place among them that 
" worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Phil. 
iii. 3. 

I do not know a more striking illustration of 
salvation by the blood of Jesus alone, than that 
which is furnished by the sprinkling of the blood 
of the passover lamb on the homes of the Israel- 
ites, on the eve of their redemption from the 



64 THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 



bondage of Egypt. " The blood on the lintel se- 
cured Israel's peace." There was nothing more 
required in order to enjoy settled peace, in refer- 
ence to the destroying angel, than the applica- 
tion of "the blood of sprinkling." God did not 
add anything to the blood, because nothing more 
was necessary to obtain salvation from the sword 
of judgment. He did not say, " When I see the 
blood and the unleavened bread or bitter herbs, 
I will pass over." By no means. These things 
had their proper place, and their proper value ; 
but they never could be regarded as the ground 
of peace in the presence of God. 

" It is most needful to be simple and clear as 
to what it is which constitutes the ground-work of 
peace. So many things are mixed up with the 
work of Christ, that souls are plunged in darkness 
and uncertainty as to their acceptance. They 
know that there is no other way of being saved but 
by the blood of Christ ; but the devils know this, 
and it avails them nought. What is needed is 
to know that we are saved — absolutely, perfectly, 
eternally saved. There is no such thing as 
being partly saved and partly lost ; partly justi- 
fied and partly guilty; partly alive and partly 
dead ; partly born of God and partly not. There 
are but two states, and we must be in either the 
one or the other. 



GROUND OF PEACE WITH GOD. 65 

" The Israelite was not partly sheltered by the 
blood, and partly exposed to the sword of the 
destroyer. He knew he was safe. He did not 
hope so. He was not praying to be so. He was 
perfectly safe. And why ? Because God hath 
said, l When 1 see the blood I will pass over 
you.' Exod. xii. 13. He simply rested upon 
God's testimony about the shed blood. He set 
to his seal that God was true. He believed that 
God meant what he said, and that gave him 
peace. He was able to take his place at the 
paschal-feast, in confidence, quietness, and assur- 
ance, knowing that the destroyer could not touch 
him when a spotless victim had died in his 
stead. 

" If an Israelite had been asked as to his en- 
joyment of peace, what would he have said? 
Would he have said, ' 1 know there is no other 
way of escape but by the blood of the lamb ; and 
I know that that is a divinely perfect way ; and, 
moreover, I know that that blood has been shed 
and sprinkled on my door-post; but somehow, 
I do not feel quite comfortable. I am not quite 
sure if I am safe. I fear I do not value the 
blood as I ought, nor love the God of my fathers 
as I ought?' Would such have been his an- 
swer? Assuredly not. And yet hundreds of 
professing Christians speak thus when asked if 
6* 



66 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



they have peace. They put their thoughts 
about the blood in place of the blood itself, and 
thus, in result, make salvation as much depen- 
dent upon themselves as if they were to be saved 
by works. 

" Now, the Israelite was saved by the blood 
alone, and not by his thoughts about it. His 
thoughts might be deep or they might be shal- 
low ; but deep or shallow, they had nothing to 
do with his safety. He was not saved by his 
thoughts or feelings, but by the blood. God did 
not say, ' When you see the blood, I will pass over 
you.' No: but 'when / see.' What gave an 
Israelite peace was the fact that Jehovah's eye 
rested on the blood. This tranquilized his 
heart. The blood was outside, and the Israel- 
ite inside, so that he could not possibly see it ; 
but God saw it, and that was quite enough. 

" The application of this to the question of a 
sinner's peace is very plain. Christ having shed 
his blood as a perfect atonement for sin, has 
taken it into the presence of God and sprinkled 
it there ; and God's testimony assures, the 
believer that everything is settled on his behalf 
All the claims of justice have been fully an- 
swered, sin has been perfectly put away, so that 
the full tide of redeeming love may roll down 



GROUND OF PEACE WITH GOD. 67 



from the heart of God, along the channel which 
the sacrifice of Christ has opened for it. 

" To this truth the Holy Ghost bears witness. 
He ever sets forth the fact of God's estimate of 
the blood of Christ. He points the sinners's eye 
to the accomplished work of the cross. He de- 
clares that all is done ; that sin has been put far 
away, and righteousness brought nigh — so nigh, 
that it is l to all them that believe.' Rom. iii. 22. 
Believe what ? Believe what God says ; because 
he says it, not because they feel it. 

" Now we are constantly prone to look at 
something in ourselves as necessary to form the 
ground of peace. We are apt to regard the work 
of the Spirit in us rather than the work of Christ 
for us, as the foundation of our peace. This is 
a mistake. We know that the operations of the 
Spirit of God have their proper place in Christi- 
anity ; but his work is never set forth as that on 
which our peace depends. The Holy Ghost did 
not make peace ; but Christ did : the Holy Ghost 
is not said to be our peace ; but Christ is. God 
did not send ' preaching peace' by the Holy 
Ghost, but ' by Jesus Christ ;' comp. Acts x. 36 ; 
Eph. ii. 14, if; Col. i. 20. 

" The Holy Ghost reveals Christ ; he makes us 
to know, enjoy, and feed upon Christ. He bears 
witness to Christ ; takes of the things of Christ, 



68 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



and shows them unto us. He is the power of 
communion, the seal, the witness, the earnest, 
the unction. In short, his operations are essen- 
tial. Without him, we can neither see, hear, 
know, feel, experience, enjoy, nor exhibit aught 
of Christ. This is plain, and is understood and 
admitted by every true and rightly-instructed 
Christian. 

"Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of 
the Spirit is not the ground of peace, though he 
enables us to enjoy the peace. He is not our 
title, though he reveals our title, and enables us 
to enjoy it. The Holy Ghost is still carrying 
on his work in the soul of the believer. He 
' maketh intercession with groanings which can- 
not be uttered.' Rom. viii. 26. He labors to 
bring us into more entire conformity to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. His aim is ' to present every man 
perfect in Christ.' Col. i. 28. He is the author 
of every right desire, every holy aspiration, 
every pure and heavenly affection, every divine 
experience ; but his work in and with us will 
not be complete until we have left this present 
scene, and taken our place with Christ in the 
glory. Just as, in the case of Abraham's ser- 
vant, his work was not complete until he pre- 
sented Rebekah to Isaac. 

" Not so the work of Christ for us ; that is ab- 



GROUND OF PEACE WITH GOD. 69 



solutely and eternally complete. He could say, 
' I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
to do/ John xvii. 4 ; and, again, ' It is finished. 7 
John xix. 30. The blessed Spirit cannot yet say 
he has finished the work. He has been patiently 
and faithfully working for the last eighteen 
hundred years as the true — the Divine Yicar of 
Christ on earth. He still works amidst the va- 
rious hostile influences which surround the 
sphere of his operations. He still works in the 
hearts of the people of God, in order to bring 
them up, practically and experimentally, to the 
divinely-appointed standard; but he never 
teaches a soul to lean on his work for peace in 
the presence of divine holiness. His office is to 
speak of Jesus. He does not speak of himself. 
'He, 7 says Christ, 'shall receive of mine, and 
shall show it unto you. 7 John xvi. 4. He can 
only present Christ's work as the solid basis on 
which the soul must rest forever. Yea, it is on 
the ground of Christ's perfect atonement that he 
takes up his abode and carries on his operations 
in the believer. 'In whom also after that ye 
believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit 
of promise. 7 Eph. i. 13. No power or energy 
of the Holy Ghost could cancel sin; the blood 
has done that. ' The blood of Jesus Christ his 
Son cleanseth us from all sins. 7 1 John i. T. 



70 THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 



" It is of the'utmost importance to distinguish 
between the Spirit's work in us and Christ's 
work for us. Where they are confounded, one 
rarely finds settled peace as to the question of 
sin. The type of the passover illustrates the 
distinction very simply. The Israelite's peace 
was not founded upon the unleavened bread or 
the bitter herbs, but upon the blood. Nor was 
it, by any means, a question of what lie thought 
about the blood, but what God thought about it. 
This gives immense relief and comfort to the 
heart. God has found a ransom, and he reveals 
that ransom to us sinners in order that we 
might rest therein on the authority of his word, 
and by the grace of his Spirit. And albeit our 
thoughts and feelings must ever fall far short of 
the infinite preciousness of that ransom, yet, in- 
asmuch as God tells us that he is perfectly sat- 
isfied about our sins, we may be satisfied also. 
Our conscience may well find settled rest where 
God's holiness finds rest. 

" Beloved reader, if you have not as yet found 
peace in Jesus, we pray you to ponder this 
deeply. See the simplicity of the ground on 
which your peace is to rest. God is well pleased 
in the finished work of Christ — ' well pleased for 
His righteousness' sake.' Isaiah xlii. 21. That 
righteousness is not founded upon your feelings or 



GROUND OF PEACE WITH GOD. 71 



experience, but upon the shed blood of the Lamb 
of God ; and hence your peace is not dependent 
upon your feelings or experience, but upon the 
same precious blood which is of changeless effi- 
cacy and changeless value in the judgment of 
God. 

" What, then, remains for the believer ? To 
what is he called? To keep the feast of the un- 
leavened bread, by putting away everything con- 
trary to the hallowed purity of his elevated posi- 
tion. It is his privilege to feed upon that pre- 
cious Christ whose blood has cancelled all his 
guilt. Being assured that the sword of the de- 
stroyer cannot touch him, because it has fallen 
upon Christ instead, it is for him to feast in holy 
repose within the blood-stricken door, under the 
perfect shelter which God's own love has pro- 
vided in the blood of the cross. 

" May God the Holy Ghost lead every doubt- 
ing, wavering heart to find rest in the divine 
testimony contained in those words, ' When I 
see the blood, I will pass over you.' Exod xii. 
13." 

Until I saw the blood, 'twas hell my soul was fearing; 

And dark and dreary in my eyes the future was appearing, 
While conscience told its tale of sin, 
And caused a weight of woe within. 



72 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



But when I saw the blood, and look'd at him who shed it, 
My right to peace was seen at once, and I with transport, 
read it ; 

I found myself to God brought nigh, 

And " Victory" became my cry 

My joy was in the blood, the news of which had told me, 
That spotless as the Lamb of God, my Father could behold 
me. 

And all my boast was in his name 
Through whom this great salvation came. 

And when, with golden harps, the throne of God sur- 
rounding, 
The white-robed saints around the throne their songs of 
joy are sounding ; 

With them I'll praise that precious blood 
Which has redeemed our souls to God. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

REGENERATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESTJ8. 

EAR Reader, — Jesus spoke of re- 
generation as essential to salvation.; 
and it is possible you may feel as if that 
experience stood between you and the " precious 
blood of Christ." 1 Pet i. 19. It seems as if it 
did, but it does not ; for we are saved by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, which is " shed on us abundantly 
through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Titus iii. 6. 
It can do you only good to consider the necessity 
of being born again, for it will show you at once 
your utter helplessness and the all-sufficiency of 
the blood of Jesus alone to give you peace with 
God and a new heart. We do not shrink from 
the fullest statement of the truth of Scripture on 
this point ; for it will be found that it does not 
clash in the very least with the truth, which I 
am specially desirous to impart, that we are not 
accepted as righteous in God's sight otherwise 
than in Christ; for, says the word, " He made 
7 (73) 



74 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we 
might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
The necessity of being born again will show us 
only the more clearly that we must be saved by 
faith in Jesus Christ alone. Turn to and read 
the third chapter of the gospel by John, and then 
ponder the following thoughts on this vitally 
important subject, and see how you are stripped 
of every plea for mercy arising from yourself, 
and laid down as a lost sinner at the cross of 
Christ, needing to be saved by grace alone. 

Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, asserts 
the absolute necessity of regeneration, when he 
says, " Yerily, verily, I say unto thee, Except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God." John iii. 3. And farther on, he says, 
as solemnly and decidedly, "Except a man be 
l3orn of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God." John iii. 5. And he 
gives a fact aS the reason of this necessity : 
" That which is born of the flesh is flesh." John 
iii. 6. " Flesh," or corrupt human nature — man 
as he is — is unfit to enter God's kingdom, and 
will ever continue so. No self-regeneration is 
to be expected. The total depravity of human 
nature renders a radical spiritual change of abso- 
lute necessity. The whole race and every indi- 
vidual " man," is utterly depraved in heart, his 



REGENERATION. 75 

will averse from good, his conscience is defiled, 
his understanding is darkened, his affections are 
alienated from God and set upon unworthy- 
objects, his desires are corrupt, his appetites 
ungoverned ; and, unless the Holy Spirit impart 
a new nature, and work an entire change on the 
whole faculties of his mind by " the washing of 
water through the word/' cleansing away his 
filthiness of spirit as water cleanses away outward 
defilement, he must remain an unfit subject for 
God's holy kingdom. • 

And observe that Jesus spoke of two classes 
only — those who are " fleshly," and those who 
are " spiritual." We are naturally connected — 
as are all mankind — with those who are " born 
of the flesh," who, on that very account, cannot 
even so much as " see the kingdom of God ;" and 
we can get out of our natural state only by a 
spiritual birth ; for only " that which is born of 
the Spirit is spirit." John iii. 6. All of us being 
born of parents who were themselves fallen and 
corrupt, are necessarily, infected by the heredi- 
tary taint of depravity of nature ; and, besides, 
"the carnal mind is enmity against God, and is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot 
please God," Rom. viii. T, 8, and cannot enter 
into his kingdom. Attempts at morality are of 



76 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

no account with God. A moral Nieodemus was 
told he required something deeper and more com- 
prehensive than conformity to a certain standard 
which passes with the world for morality. God's 
standard of holiness is not morality but spirit- 
uality. 

But some may say that, by publishing such 
extreme views, we make many well-meaning 
persons feel disgusted at religion, and go off from 
it altogether. 

But it is not our fault if they do so on account 
of the insufferableness of Divine tr,u'th.- Are you 
convinced that Scripture is right when it says, 
" The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked ?" Jer. xvii. 9. Do you be- 
lieve that, as a man in the flesh, you are more 
like Satan than God? — incapable of knowing, 
loving, or Serving God, and, although in reputa- 
tion for the highest morality, utterly unfit for 
entering into his holy kingdom ? 

It is, no doubt, hard to believe that one's own 
self is so bad as I have indicated, and none but 
the Holy Spirit can truly convince us of it ; but 
does not Jesus represent our condition as utterly 
depraved — as ''flesh?" Does he not solemnly 
aver, that without a new birth from above, not 
one — no, not even a moral, learned, inquiring 
Nicodemus — can see or enter the kingdom of 



REGENERATION. 77 



God ? He does not say that he may not, but 
that he cannot enter — leaving it to be inferred 
that it is morally impossible. And this arises 
from the fact of its being a kingdom, as well as 
from the fact of our depravity. An anarchist has 
a decided dislike to constitutional and settled 
government ; so a man, who hates the laws by 
which God's kingdom is governed, cannot be a 
loyal subject of his holy admini°tration. God 
would require to change his nature before he ad- 
mitted any of us into his kingdom with our na- 
ture unchanged. But as God cannot change, we 
must be changed, if we would see or enter his 
kingdom. Before we can be happy and loyal 
subjects of it, we must be "born again ;" and, 
being new creatures, have its laws written in 
our minds and hearts. 

Besides, as a professor in one of our colleges 
has well remarked, " It is a principle of our na- 
ture that, in order to happiness, there must be 
some correspondence betwixt the taste and dis- 
positions, the habits of a man, and the scene in 
which he is placed, the society with which he 
mingles, and the services in which he is em- 
ployed. A coward on the field of battle, a profli- 
gate in the house of prayer, a giddy worlding 
standing by a death-bed, a drunkard in the com- 
pany of holy men, feel instinctively that they are 



78 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



misplaced — they have no enjoyment there." And 
what enjoyment could unregenerate men have 
in God's kingdom, on earth, or in heaven. Dr. 
Owen says, " If a man of a carnal mind is brought 
into a large company, he will have much to do ; 
if into a company of Christians, he will feel little 
interest ; if into a smaller company engaged in 
religious exercises, he will feel less ; but if taken 
into a closet and forced to meditate upon God 
and eternity, this will be insupportable." Even 
the outward services of the sanctuary below are 
distasteful to them, in proportion to their spirit- 
uality. As long as preachers keep by the pic- 
torial and illustrative, and speak of the seasons 
of the year, the beautiful earth, and the ancient 
sea, mountains and plains, rivers and lakes, fields, 
flowers and fruits, sun, moon, and stars, they 
comprehend the discourse and applaud it; but 
when the deeply spiritual and eternally import- 
ant form the theme, they feel listless, and char- 
acterize it as dull, prosy, and uninteresting. But 
if we cannot enjoy a highly spiritual discourse, it 
?must be because we are " carnal," and want the 
^spiritual " sense" which always accompanies the 
new birth ; for "the natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God; for they are 
foolishness unto him ; neither can he know 
them, because they are spiritually discerned*" 



REGENERATION. 79 



1 Cor. ii. 14. And is it not an alarming truth, 
that this being " born again" is not a making of 
ourselves better, but a being made anew spirit- 
ually by God himself! This appears evident 
from what Jesus said during his conversation 
with JSTicodemus. His words are these, " Except 
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can- 
not enter into the kingdom of God." John iii. 
6. This great change is effected by the Holy 
Spirit through means of the living " water" of 
the Word of God — the testimony of Jesus — and 
is of a spiritual nature, "for that which is born 
of the Spirit is spirit." It consists not in out- 
ward reformation, but inward transformation. 
We must be regenerated in soul in order to be 
truly reformed in life. The change is of such a 
nature that it is sure to be manifested outwardly 
if it exist inwardly. If you wish to have a holy 
life, you must be born again. Praying, weep- 
ing, striving against sin, and obeying God's 
laws, is just so much labor lost, unless you 
have in the first place this " born-again" expe- 
rience. 

Ah ! but you say, as you read this hard say- 
ing, This lays me entirely prostrate before God, 
a sick and dying sinner ; and I may give myself 
up to despair at once, for such an experience is 
utterly beyond my reach. 



80 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



No, not at all ! You may well despair of self, 
for self is incurably bad, but you are by this shut 
up to trust in "Jesus only." Mark ix. 8. For, 
remember, Jesus continued to lay before this 
Jewish ruler atonement through himself, lifted 
up as a mediator, and God's free love to a perish- 
ing world, embodied in the gift and work of his 
Son. You want to be born again ? Well, Jesus 
would have you look to the Son of man lifted 
up; as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, and you will thus be pardoned and made 
to live. You say you are prostrated and helpless 
— with the poison of the serpent coursing 
through you — sick and dying, and you want to 
live — to experience such a new life as shall 
prove not only a present counteractive to the 
virus of this terrible death-poison, but also an 
enduring spiritual reality ! Well, Jesus says, 
in this conversation with the inquiring ruler, 
" that God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
John iii. 16. 

God sent his Son not to condemn the perishing 
men of the world to lie in their corrupt and dis- 
eased condition, and perish forever, but that he 
himself might die that they might be pardoned 
and saved I And those who are recovered from 



REGENERATION. 81 

the disease of corruption, tell us that they were 
"born again," not by lying in their corruption 
and crying for a new nature, and expecting it to 
come in some arbitrary and different way from 
that of faith ; but their uniform testimony is, 
" Of his own will begat he us with the word of 
truth," James i. 18 ; we are new creatures, 
"being born again by the word of God," 1 Pet. 
i. 23 ; and " whosoever believeth that Jesus is 
the Christ is born of God."* 1 John v. 1. The 
realization of regeneration being by faith in 
Jesus, you must fill your eyes with the atoning 
cross if you would have your guilt removed, and 
you must direct your eyes to the risen Living 
One at the right hand of God, and through him 
get out of the old creation with its condemnation 
and death, into the new creation with its justifi- 
cation and life, if you would know what it is to 
be "born again," and have your heart filled with 
divine life. See Rom. vi. and Eph. ii. This is 
the truth which Jesus taught in his conversation 

* "Every one who really believes is said to be born of 
God ; and as every true believer is a converted man, it 
follows that the production of saving faith is equivalent to 

the work of regeneration Conversion properly 

consists in a sinner being brought actually, intelligently, 
and cordially to close and comply with God's revealed will 
on the subject of his salvation." — Professor Buchanan, 
D.D., LL.D. 



82 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

with Nicodemus ; and the whole drift of the 
Gospel in which it occurs is a copy of the mind 
of Christ on this point; for the writer says, to- 
wards its close, " These are written, that ye 
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of God; and that believing ye might have life 
through his name." John xx. 31. 

If you still feel that you know nothing of 
being " born again," bring your mind into broad 
and immediate contact with the whole of this 
conversation. Do not close the book and moan 
over the misery of your state, as it is now dis- 
covered to you by the awakening truths con- 
tained from ver. 3 to ver. 9 ; but go on until you 
take in the discovery of the plain, gracious, free, 
and righteous way of getting out of your death 
and misery, as you have laid it down by Jesus, 
when he speaks (from the fourteenth to the 
seventeenth verse) of his own all-sufficient sac- 
rifice, and his Father's unexampled love and 
gracious purpose towards perishing sinners, and 
his willingness to save and give eternal life to 
every one who believes in him. " He that hath 
the Son hath life." 1 John v. 12. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS ESSENTIAL TO 
SALVATION. 

T is our belief of God's testimony concern- 
ing his own grace and Christ's work that 
brings us into possession of the blessings, 
concerning which that testimony speaks. Our 
reception of God's testimony is confidence in God 
himself, and in Christ Jesus his Son ; for where 
the testimony comes from a person or regards a 
person, belief of the testimony and confidence in 
the person are things inseparable. Hence it is 
that Scripture sometimes speaks of confidence or 
trust as saving us, (see the Psalms everywhere, 
such as xiii. 5, Hi. 8 ; also 1 Tim. iv. 10, Eph. i. 
12,) as if it would say to the sinner, " Such is the 
gracious character of God, that you have only to 
put your case into his hands, however bad it be 
— only trust him for eternal life — and he will 
assuredly not put you to shame." Hence, also, 
it is that we are said to be saved by the know- 
ledge of God or of Christ ; that is, by simply 

(83) 



84 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



knowing God as he has made himself known t& 
us, Isa. v. 3, 11 ; 1 Tim. ii. 4 ; 2 Pet. ii. 20 ; foi 
" this is life is eternal, that they might know thee 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
hast sent." John xvii. 2. And as if to make 
simplicity more simple, the apostle, in speaking 
of the facts of Christ's death and burial and resur- 
rection, says, "By which also ye are saved, if 
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you." 
i Cor. xv. 1, 2. 

God would have us understand that the way 
in which we become connected with Christ so as 
to get eternal life is by " knowing him " or " hear- 
ing" him — "trusting" him. The testimony is 
inseparably linked to the person testified of ; and 
our connexion with the testimony, by belief of it, 
thus links us to the person. Thus it is that faith 
forms the bond between us and the Son of God, 
not because of anything in itself, but solely be- 
cause it is only through the medium of truth 
known and believed that the soul can take any 
hold of God or of Christ. Faith is nothing save 
as it lays hold of Christ, and it does so by laying 
hold of the truth concering him. " By grace are 
ye saved through faith ; and that not of your- 
selves ; it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 8. 

Faith, then, is the link, the one link between 
the sinner and God's gift of pardon and life. It 



FAITH ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION. 85 



is not faith, and something else along with it ; 
it is faith alone ; faith that takes God at his 
word, and gives him credit for speaking the hon- 
est truth when making known his message of 
grace — his " record" of eternal life concerning 
." the Lamb of God that taketh. away the sin of 
the world." John i. 29. 

"If you object that you cannot believe, then 
this indicates that you are proceeding quite in a 
wrong direction. You are still laboring under 
the idea that this believing is a work to be done 
by you, and not the acknowledgment of a work 
done by another. You would fain do something 
in order to get peace, and you think that if you 
could only do this great thing, ' believing 7 — if 
you could but perform this great act called faith 
— God would at once reward you by giving you 
peace. Thus faith is reckoned by you to be the 
■price in the sinners's hand by which he buys 
peace, and not the mere holding out of the hand 
to get a peace which has already been bought by 
another. So long as you are attaching any meri- 
torious importance to faith, however uncon- 
sciously, you are moving in a wrong direction — 
a direction from which no peace can come. 
Surely faith is not a work. On the contrary, it 
is a ceasing from work. It is not a climbing of 
the mountain, but a ceasing to attempt it, and 
8 



86 THE BLOOD OF JESTTS, 



allowing Christ to carry you up in his own arms. 
You seem to think that it is your own act of faith 
that is to save you, and not the object of your 
faith, without which your own act, however 
well performed, is nothing. Accordingly, you 
bethink yourself, and say, ' What a mighty work 
is this believing — what an effort does it require 
on my part — how am I to perform it?' Herein 
you sadly err, and your mistake lies chiefly 
here, in supposing that your peace is to come 
from the proper performance on your part of an 
act of faith, whereas it is to come entirely from 
the proper perception of him to whom the Father 
is pointing your eye, and in regard to whom he 
is saying, ' Behold my servant whom I have 
chosen, look at him, forget everything else — 
everything about yourself, your own faith, your 
own repentance, your own feelings — and look at 
him !' It is in him, and not in your poor act of 
faith, that salvation lies, and out of him, not out 
of your own act of faith, is peace to come. 

" Thus mistaking the meaning of faith, and 
the way in which faith saves you, you get into 
confusion, and mistake everything else connected 
with your peace. You mistake the real nature 
of that very inability to believe of which you 
complain so sadly. For that inability does not 
lie, as you fancy it does, in the impossibility of 



FAITH ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION. 87 



your performing aright this great act of faith, but 
of ceasing from all such self-righteous attempts 
to perform any act, or do any work whatsoever, 
in order to your being saved. So that the real 
truth is, that you have not yet seen such a suf- 
ficiency in the one great work of the Son of God 
upon the cross, as to lead you utterly to discon- 
tinue your mistaken and aimless efforts to work 
out something of your own. As soon as the 
Holy Spirit shows you have this entire sufficiency 
of the great propitiation, you cease at once from 
these attempts to act or work something of your 
own, and take, instead of this, what Christ has 
done. One great part of the Spirit's work is, 
not to enable the man to do something which 
will help to save him, but so to detach him from 
his own performances, that he shall be content 
with the salvation which Christ finished when he 
died and rose again. 

But perhaps you may object further, that you 
are not satisfied with your faith. No, truly, 
nor are you ever likely to be. If you wait for 
this before you take peace, you will wait till life 
is done. The Bible does not say, l Being satis- 
fied about our faith, we have peace with God ;' 
it simply says, l Being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God.' Bom. v. 1. Not satisfaction 
with your own faith, but satisfaction with Jesus 



88 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



and his work — this is what God presses on you. 
You say, ' I am satisfied with Christ. J Are 
you ? What more, then, do you wish ? Is not 
satisfaction with Christ enough for you, or for 
any sinner ? Nay, and is not this the truest kind 
of faith. To be satisfied with Christ, that is 
faith in Christ. To be satisfied with his blood, 
that is faith in his blood. What more could you 
have ? Can your faith give you something 
which Christ cannot ? or will Christ give you 
nothing till you can produce faith of a certain 
kind and quality, whose excellences will entitle 
you to blessing? Do not bewilder yourself. 
Do not suppose that your faith is a price, or a 
bribe, or a merit. Is not the very essence of 
real faith just your being satisfied with Christ ? 
Are you really satisfied with him, and with what 
he has done ? Then do not puzzle yourself about 
your faith, but go upon your way rejoicing, having 
thus been brought to be satisfied with him 
whom to know is peace, and life, and salvation: 
" You are not satisfied with your faith, you say. 
I am glad that you are not. Had you been so, 
you would have been far out of the way indeed. 
Does Scripture anywhere speak of your getting 
peace by your becoming satisfied with your faith ? 
Nay, does it not take for granted that you will, 
to the very last, be dissatisfied with yourself, 



FAITH ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION. 89 



with your faith, with all about you and within 
you ; and satisfied with Jesus only? Are you 
then satisfied with him? Then go in peace. 
For if satisfaction with him will not give you 
peace, nothing else that either heaven or earth 
contains will ever give you peace. Though your 
faith should become so perfect that you were en- 
tirely satisfied with it, that would not pacify 
your conscience or relieve your fears. Faith, 
however perfect, has of itself nothing to give 
you, either of pardon or of life. Its finger 
points you to Jesus. Its voice bids you look 
straight to him. Its object is to turn away from 
itself and from yourself altogether, that you 
may behold him, and in beholding him be satis- 
fied with him ; and, in being satisfied with him, 
have ' joy and peace. ' " * 

" Faith is not what we feel or see, 
It is a simple trust 
In what the God of love has said 
Of Jesus as the ' Just.' 

" What Jesus is, and that alone, 
Is faith's delightful plea ; 
It never deals with sinful self 
Nor righteous self, in me. 

* "Words for the Inquiring,'* by Horatius Bonar, D. D. 
8* 



90 



THE BLOOD OF JESUS, 



14 It tells me I am counted * dead* 
By God, in his own word ; 
It tells me I am * born again* 
In Christ, my risen Lord. 

14 If he is free, then I am free, 
From all unrighteousness; 
If he is just, then I am just, 
He is my righteousness." 






CHAPTER X. 

THE BLOOD OP JESUS THE BELIEVER'S LIFE AND 

PEACE. 

NOW leave off addressing myself specially 
to the unconverted awakened, that I may 
lay a few thoughts before brethren in 
Christ who are awakening to a deeper sense of 
their obligations and responsibilities. 

We are living in a most important era of our 
world's history. How melancholy the condi- 
tion, and how ominous of evil the attitude of 
earth's nations ! Warlike powers confront each 
other, and the blood of their embattled hosts is 
shed in torrents ! How persevering and suc- 
cessful is man in carrying forward his gigantic 
schemes and favorite movements ! Strange is it 
also, that an all but universal cry for regeneration 
among earth's nations should be made simulta- 
neously with a cry for the Holy Ghost to achieve 
for the professing Church a mighty spiritual re- 
vival.- 

We cannot help being stimulated in our exer- 

(91) 



92 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



tions for the cause of Christ, by contiguity to un- 
ceasing earthly activity manifested on every 
side ; but were this our only incentive to action 
our zeal would be spurious ; for all effort and 
activity in promoting the gospel which are the 
offspring of mere imitation, and originate only in 
proximity to the activity displayed by the world, 
instead of being based on personal faith in Christ 
and living communion with God, form nothing 
higher and nothing better than " a fair show in 
the flesh." 

But we have reason to believe that a mighty 
breath of the Divine Spirit is now passing over the 
earth. The Church of the living God, scattered 
throughout the different denominations, has been 
feeling its influence ; and the result of his gra- 
cious presence and quickening power is appear- 
ing in greatly increased religious activity and 
zeal for the conversion of souls. This is matter 
for thankfulness. We need to have a renewal 
of our youth that we may be healthy, fresh, and 
vigorous to engage energetically in the great 
work that is to be done for God in these event- 
ful days that are now passing over us. And let 
us ever bear in mind that the grand prerequisite 
to thorough usefulness is, that we ourselves 
should be " strengthened with might by his 
Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell 



THE BELIEVER'S LIFE AND PEACE. 93 



in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted 
and grounded in love, maybe able to comprehend 
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height; and to know the love of 
Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might 
be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 
16-19. If we would be filled with the grace of 
God and refreshed in our souls, it is essential, 
at such a time as the present, that we should 
constantly recall and deeply ponder the great 
foundation-truths on w T hich we rested at the 
time of our conversion. " Looking unto Jesus," 
Heb. xii. 2, is the most refreshing exercise in 
which we can engage ; and the shortest road 
to genuine spiritual revival is by the cross of 
Calvary. 

When the Rev. W. H. Hewitson was on his 
deathbed, and had several texts illustrative of 
the faithfulness of God quoted to him by a friend, 
he remarked after his friend had withdrawn: — 
" Texts like these do not give me so much com- 
fort, as ' God so loved the world, that he gave 
his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life,' John iii. 16 ; or, ' He that spareth not his 
own Son, but delivereth him up for us all, how 
6hall he not with him also freely give us all 
things V Rom, viii, 32. Plain doctrinal state- 



94 THE BLOOD .OF JESUS. 



inents, exhibiting the heart of God, are more sus* 
taining to me than mere promises. I like to get 
into contact with the living person " This ex- 
perience is very common in such circumstances. 
When the most intelligent Christian draws near 
to death, he feels that he can rest with confidence 
on nothing except the great elementary truths 
of God's glorious gospel, and the living person 
of his risen Son. And when we are in a state 
of spiritual decay ; when our " soul is full of 
troubles, and our life draweth nigh unto the 
grave," Ps. lxxxviii. 3 ; when our " spirit is 
overwhelmed, and our heart within us is deso- 
late," Ps. cxliii. 4 ; there is nothing so reviving 
and invigorating as the leading fundamental 
truths of the gospel of Christ. The faithful say- 
ing, " that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners, of whom I am chief," 1 Tim. i. 15, 
is at once the means of reviving the Christian, 
and of giving life to the self-despairing sinner ; 
for the gospel is " the power of God unto salva- 
tion to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. 
"None but Jesus" can avail us either for peace 
of conscience with reference to past transgres- 
sions, peace of heart with reference to present 
circumstances, or for peace of mind with reference 
to future prospects. This is not theory, but ex- 
perience, as every child of God knows. 



THE BELIEVER'S LIFE AND PEACE. 95 



"I feel," writes another, "that nothing can 
do me good but personal contact with the living 
person of the Lord Jesus. Looking at systems 
and creeds — doctrines and duties — may be all 
very well in its own place, but if I am to be a 
healthy, fruit-bearing Christian, I must look 
steadily and confidently to the great High Priest 
who assumed our nature to bear our sins and 
win our confidence. When, by faith, we are ena- 
bled to fix a steady gaze on Jesus, how little do 
we care for the smile or frown of the world ! 
1 Looking unto Jesus' enables the ' worm Jacob' 
to ' thresh the mountains, and beat them small, 
and make the hills as chaff.' Isa. xli. 15. But 
I often feel that it is a very difficult matter to 
look away from myself, though I am sure I never 
get anything there to make me feel happy. No, 
all is in my Redeemer, and it is only when I am 
looking to him as ' all my salvation' that I feel 
satisfied, and think I could face death with 
composure." 

The late Lady Colquhoun was one who knew 
the preciousness and power of resting on Christ 
Jesus alone for peace, comfort, and salvation, 
and from personal experience she was " able to 
teach others also." Writing to a young friend, 
she gave this excellent counsel : — " As well in 
our winters as our summers the foundation 



96 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



standeth sure — ' Christ is all.' With him is no 
variableness, neither shadow of turning. Pre- 
cious truths ! Let us rest upon it, and cease 
from the vain endeavor to find anything in us 
that can give the shadow of hope. Abiding 
hope must be fixed on the object that changeth 
not. We change daily, hourly. He remains 
glorious in holiness eternally. And this per- 
fection is in the court of heaven our represent- 
ative. Can we want more ? Shall we say, I 
will add a few of my virtues and graces to the 
account ? When we are guilty of this folly, we 
weary ourselves seeking for them, for they can- 
not be found, and our harp hangs upon the wil- 
lows. But we resume the songs of Zion when 
we look entirely from ourselves to ' the Lord our 
righteousness. ' How is it with you, dear A. ? 
Can you rejoice in the Lord always ? If not, 
experience will teach you that living on frames 
and feelings will not do — that comfort ebbs and 
flows with them — and that you equally delude 
yourself when you take comfort from the feeling 
of nearness to God, or when you lose it because 
you lack that joy in devotional exercises, which 
is, nevertheless, extremely desirable, and much 
to be prized. This, however, is distinct from 
joy in Christ crucified, and Christ our righteous- 
ness ; and it is very possible to feel little heart 



THE BELIEVER'S LIFE AND PEACE. 97 

for prayer, and to mourn an absent God, and yet 
to stand firm on the sure foundation, rejoicing in 
Christ, and never doubting that we are complete 
in him. 

The reason why many real Christians are 
harassed with doubts, fears, and darkness is, 
that they leave off leaning entirely upon their 
beloved Saviour, and rest part of the weight of 
their souls' eternal well-being on their own ex- 
perience. The fruits of righteousness wrought 
in us by the grace of the Holy Spirit are precious 
as evidences, but they cannot be trusted as 
grounds of salvation, unless with much spiritual 
detriment to our souls. Leigh Richmond, writing 
to his mother, says : — " Your occasional doubts 
and fears arise from too much considering faith 
and repentance as the grounds, rather than the 
evidences, of salvation. Our salvation is not 
because we do well, but because ' He in whom 
we trust hath done all things well.' The be- 
lieving sinner is never more happy and secure 
than when, at the same moment, he beholds and 
feels his own vileness, and also his Saviour's 
excellence. You look at yourself too much, and 
at the infinite price paid for you too little. For 
conviction you must look at yourself, but for 
comfort at your Saviour. Thus the wounded 
Israelites were to look only at the brazen serpent 
9 



98 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



for recovery. The graces of the Spirit are good 
things for others to judge us by, but it is Christ 
himself received, believed in, rested upon, loved, 
and followed, that will speak peace to ourselves. 
By looking unto him we shall grow holy ; and 
the more holy we grow, the more we shall mourn 
over sin, and be sensible how very far short we 
come of what we yet desire to be. While our 
sanctification is a gradual and still imperfect work, 
our justification is perfect and complete : the for- 
mer is wrought in us, the latter for us. Rely 
simply as a worthless sinner on the Saviour, and 
the latter is all your own, with its accompanying 
blessings of pardon, acceptance, adoption, and 
the non-imputation of sin to your charge. Hence 
will flow thankful obedience, devotedness of 
heart, &c. This salvation is by faith alone, and 
thus saving faith works by love. Embrace these 
principles freely, fully, and impartially, and you 
will enjoy a truly scriptural peace, assurance, 
and comfort" 

" For if Christ be born within, 

Soon that likeness shall appear 
Which the heart had lost through sin, 

God's own image fair and clear, 
And the soul serene and bright 
Mirrors back his heavenly light." 






CHAPTER XI. 

FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS THE SPRING 01 
HOLINESS. 

T is noteworthy that the apostle Paul, who 
most strenuously upholds justification by 
faith in Jesus, always connects it with 
holy living, and frequently shows that it is the 
firm belief of the truth of the doctrine that leads 
to new obedience in life. In his Epistle to 
Titus, after speaking of " Jesus Christ our Sa- 
viour," and " being justified by his grace," and 
"made heirs according to the hope of eternal 
life," he directs that the doctrine of salvation by 
free grace alone should be affirmed constantly in 
order that believers might maintain good works. 
Titus iii. 4-8. And there can never be " good" 
works but on the principle of being " justified by 
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the 
law." Gal. ii. 16. We never do good works 
until we do them because we are saved, not in 

(99) 



100 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

order to be so. A lively sense of many sins for- 
given will make us love much and show it prac- 
tically. Luke vii. 4T. And we should have such 
a vital connexion with Christ, and such intimate 
fellowship with him, as will exclude all surmis- 
nigs as to our acceptance. If we, are to render 
Paul-like service, we must exercise Paul-like 
faith, and enjoy Paul-like experience. And this 
is a record of how he believed and lived : " I am 
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which 
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the 
Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for 
me." Gal. ii. 20. We must be well assured of 
the love of God in Christ Jesus, to our own souls 
in particular, before we shall be able to say, 
" This one thing I do ; I strive to be holy as 
God is holy." " Saving faith," says one of the 
best of the old writers, " has always a sanctifying 
and comforting influence. The true believer 
does not divide righteousness from sanctification, 
nor pardon from purity. Yea, he comes to Christ 
for the remission of sins for the right end ; and 
that is, that being freed from the guilt of sin, we 
may be freed from the dominion of it. Knowing 
that there is forgiveness with him that he might 
be feared, he does not believe in remission of 



THE SPRING OF HOLINESS. 1Q1 



sin that he may indulge himself in the commis- 
sion of sin. No, no ; the blood of Christ, that 
purges the conscience from the guilt of sin, does 
also purge the conscience from dead works to 
serve the living God. They that come to Christ 
in a spiritual way, come to him for righteousness 
that they may have him also for sanctification ; 
otherwise, the man does not really desire the 
favor and enjoyment of God, or to be in friend- 
ship with him who is a holy God. The true 
believer employs Christ for making him holy as 
well as happy, and hence draws virtue from him 
for killing sin, and quickening him in the way of 
duty. The faith that can never keep you from 
sin will never keep you out of hell ; and the faith 
that cannot carry you to your duty will not carry 
you to heaven. Justifying faith is a sanctifying 
grace. It is true, as it sanctifies it does not jus- 
tify ; but that faith that justifies does also sanc- 
tify. As the sun that enlighteneth hath heat 
with it; but it is not the heat of the sun that 
enlightens, but the light thereof: so that faith 
that justifies hath love and sanctity with it; but 
it is not the love and sanctity that justify, but 
faith as closing with Christ. 

" If a man hath no faith in the Lord's good- 
ness, no hope of his favor in Christ, where is his 
9* 



102 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



purity and holiness ? Nay, it is he that hath 
this hope that purines himself as God is pure. I 
know not what experience you have, but some 
of us know, that when our souls are most com- 
forted and enlarged with the faith of God's favor 
through Christ, and with the hope of his 
goodness, then we have 'most heart to our 
duties ; and w^hen, through unbelief, we have 
harsh thoughts of God as an angry judge, then 
we have no heart to duties and religious exer- 
cises ; and I persuade myself this is the experi- 
ence of the saints in all ages." There is thus an 
inseparable connexion between our believing the 
love of God to us in Christ Jesus, holiness and 
spiritual comfort. Unless we " draw near with 
a true heart in full assurance of faith," we can- 
not expect to have " our hearts sprinkled from 
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with 
pure water." Heb. x. 22. 

And as the blood of Jesus is our ground of 
confidence in coming to God at the first for for- 
giveness of our sins, our mainstay in trouble, 
and the spring of all worthy obedience, so must 
it be our only plea in approaching our heavenly 
Father for all needed spiritual blessings. If we 
wish to have our own souls quickened and re- 
vived, or a great work of the Spirit achieved 



THE SPRING OP HOLINESS. 103 



throughout the land, and millions of souls con- 
verted, the name of Jesus must be our only plea, 
as we come to plead for these blessings at the 
throne of grace. " In all true prayer" says 
another, " great stress should be laid on the 
blood of Jesus ; perhaps no evidence distin- 
guishes a declension* in the power and spirit- 
uality of prayer more strongly than an overlook- 
ing of this. .Where the atoning blood is kept out 
of view, not recognized, not pleaded, not made 
the grand plea, there is a deficiency of power in 
prayer. Words are nothing, fluency of expres- 
sion nothing, niceties of language and brilliancy 
of thought nothing, where the blood of Christ — 
the new and living way of access to God, the 
grand plea that moves Omnipotence, that gives 
admission within the holy of holies — is slighted, 
undervalued, and not made the groundwork of 
every petition. Oh, how much is this over- 
looked in our prayers — how is the atoning blood 
of Immanuel slighted ? How little mention we 
hear of it in the sanctuary, in the pulpit, in the 
social circle ? Whereas it is this that makes 
prayer what it is with God. All prayer is ac- 
ceptable with God, and only so, as it comes up 
perfumed with the blood of Christ; all prayer 
is answered as it urges the blood of Christ as 



104 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



its plea ; it is the blood of Christ that satis- 
fies justice, and meets all the demands of the 
law against us ; it is the blood of Christ pur- 
chases and brings down every blessing into the 
soul ; it is the blood of Christ that sues for the ful- 
filment of his last will and testimony, every pre- 
cious legacy of which comes to us solely on 
account of his death ; this it is too that gives us 
boldness at the throne of grace. How can a poor 
sinner approach without this? How can he 
look up, — how can he ask, — how can he present 
himself before a holy God, — but as he brings in 
the hand of faith the precious blood of Jesus ? 
Out of Christ, God can hold no communication 
with us ; all intercourse is suspended ; every 
avenue of approach is closed; all blessing is 
withheld. God has crowned his dearly-beloved 
Son, and he will have us crown him too ; and 
never do we place a brighter crown upon his 
blessed head than when we plead his finished 
righteousness as the ground of our acceptance, 
and his atoning blood as our great argument for 
the bestowment of all blessing with God. If, 
then, dear reader, you feel yourself to be a poor, 
vile, unholy sinner, — if a backslider, whose feet 
have wandered from the Lord, in whose soul the 
spirit of prayer has declined, and yet still feel 



THE SPRING OF HOLINESS. 105 

some secret longing to return, and dare not, be- 
cause so vile, so unholy, so backsliding; yet you 
may return, * having boldness to enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus.' Heb. x. 19. 
Come, for the blood of Jesus pleads ; return, for 
the blood of Jesus gives you welcome." "If 
any man sin, we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John ii. 
1. And if you are stirred in spirit for the souls 
of the perishing around you that they may be 
saved, and for the work of God that it may be 
revived, make mention of the blood of Jesus, 
and you may rest satisfied that you "have the 
petitions" that you " desired of him." 1 John 
v. 15. Jesus has passed his word, that on doing 
this you shall obtain the desires of your heart; 
for he says, " If ye abide in me, and my words 
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it 
shall be done unto you." John xv. T. " Yerily, 
verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in my name, he will give it you. . . . 
Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 
full." John xvi. 23, 24. .If, then, there be no 
great revival of God's work, no great awakening 
conversion of perishing souls, may it not be be- 
cause this sin lieth at our door, that we have not 
used the blood of Jesus as our all-prevailing plea 



106 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



in prayer? Oh I let us no longer employ that 
" precious blood" so sparingly in our pleadings 
for revival, but let us urge it as our only and our 
constant plea, and prove God herewith, whether 
he will not open to us the windows of heaven, 
and pour us out a blessing, that there shall not 
be room enough to receive it. Mai. iii. 10. 

Thy works, not mine, Christ, 
Speak gladness to this heart ; 
They tell me all is done ; 
They bid my fear depart. 
To whom save thee, 
Who can alone 
For sin atone, 
Lord, shall I flee ! 

Thy pain, not mine, Christ, 

Upon the shameful tree, 
Have paid the law's full price, 
And purchased peace for met 
To whom save thee, 
Who can alone 
For sin atone, 
Lord, shall I flee ! 




CHAPTER XII. 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS THE ESSENCE OP THE 
GOSPEL. 

U R matured conviction is that the great 
thing needed at present is not so much 
revival sermons, or revival prayer-meet- 
ings, as revival truth ; and as the very es- 
sence of that truth is " the gospel of God con- 
cerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord/ 7 Rom. i. 
1, 2, — or in other words, the testimony of the 
Holy Ghost — externally in the preaching of the 
word, and internally in its spiritual application — 
to the all-sufficiency and infallible efficacy of 
"the precious blood of Christ," 1 Pet. i. 19, — 
that which is pre-eminently required in order to a 
general revival of religion is a full, clear, intelli- 
gent and earnest utterance of the grand leading 
doctrines of " the gospel of the grace of God." 
Acts xx. 24. True revival is not obtainable by 
merely preaching about revival, but by the con- 
stant proclamation of that all-important truth 
which is employed by the Holy Ghost to pro- 

(107) 



, 



108 THE BLOOD OP JESUS. 



duce it, — that " Christ also hath once suffered for 
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us 
to God." 1 Pet. iii. 18. He will prove the most 
effective preacher in bringing about a holy, deep, 
spiritual revival, who gives the greatest promi- 
nence to these three great facts : — " That Christ 
died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and 
that he was buried and rose again the third dav 
according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor xv. 3, 4. 
And I am convinced that the reason why so 
many ministers exhaust nearly all their con- 
verting power — I mean instrumentally— during 
the first few years of their ministry, while some 
continue to possess it, and finish their course 
with joy, is greatly owing to the former leaving 
the simplicity that is in Christ and betaking them- 
selves to sermon-writing about secondary mat- 
ters, while the latter make Christ crucified their 
" Alpha and Omega." Oh, that all the ministers 
of Jesus Christ would return, for a few months 
at least every year, to all the common texts from 
which they preached discourses which seemed 
to be so much blessed to awaken and save souls 
in the early days of their ministry ! Were they 
to take a series of such texts as Matt. xi. 28 ; 
John iii. 16 ; Rom. i. 16 ; 1 Cor. ii. 2 ; 1 Tim. i. 
12-17 ; 1 John i. 7 ; and, after re-studying them, 
and bringing all the light of their reading, spirit- 



ESSENCE OF THE GOSPEL. 1Q9 



ual insight, and experience to bear upon the ex- 
position and enforcement of them, to preach from 
them with the Holy Ghost, and with a lively 
faith, that, by the grace of the Holy Spirit accom- 
panying their preaching, the unconverted among 
their people would be immediately converted, 
there might be a great and general awakening, 
and tens of thousands might be added to the 
Lord. 

It is also of vast importance to present " the 
truth of the gospel" as the Holy Ghost himself 
has presented it to us in "the word of Christ." 
Col. iii. 16. It has been well said that " the de- 
rangement of God's order of truth is quite as 
dangerous and far more subtle than the denial 
of truth itself. In fact, to reverse the order is to 
deny the truth. We are not merely to maintain 
both Christ's work and the Spirit's work in their 
individual integrity, but in their exact scriptural 
order." We believe that the refreshing truth, 
that " the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth 
us from all sin," 1 John i. 7, is the great cen- 
tral sun which sheds a flood of light on the whole 
system of divine revelation. Atonement by the 
blood-shedding ,of Christ is the substratum of 
Christianity ; for the sole ground of a sinner's 
peace with God is "the blood of jesus." We 
who were at one time* " far off are made nigh by 
10 



HO THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



the blood of Christ ; for he is our peace," Eph. 
ii. 13, 14, "in whom we have redemption 
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. 
i. T, and so, " being justified freely by his grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
whom God hath set for to be a propitiation 
through faith in his blood," Rom. iii. 24, 25, 
"we have peace with God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; by whom also we have access by 
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and re- 
joice in hope of the glory of God." Rom. v. 
1,2. 

In the Westminster Assembly's " Shorter 
Catechism," which is considered by all orthodox 
people to be an excellent summary of Christian 
doctrine, you will find the very same truth stated 
which we have advanced and confirmed by the 
above quotations, and which we have been 
writing for publication almost daily for the last 
ten years. 

The answer to the question in that Catechism, 
" What doth God require of us that we may es- 
cape his wrath and curse due to us for sin ?" 
commences with, " God require th of us faith in 
Jesus Christ, repentance unto life," &c. Now, 
this shows that the framers of that symbol of 
sound doctrine were accurate in their concep- 



ESSENCE OF THE GOSPEL. HI 

tions, and precise in their statement of the order 
and position of this great scriptural truth. They 
suppose an anxious inquirer desirous of knowing 
how he is to escape the wrath and curse of God 
due to him for sin ; and do they say that the 
first thing he is to do is to pray for the ' Holy 
Spirit, and to get his mind changed, and his un- 
holy heart sanctified, previously to his believing 
in Jesus ? No. The very first thing they teach 
the awakened sinner to do is, to believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Now this is 
all the more remarkable, considering that, when 
laying down the system of divine truth theologi- 
cally they had placed effectual calling by the Di- 
vine Spirit before justification by faith. There 
they speak to the intellect of the converted man 
and instructed Christian ; but here the matter is 
reversed when an anxious sinner is to be guided 
as to what he is to do to be saved, and we have 
faith in Jesus Christ placed before repentance 
unto life ; showing us that they held, that while 
we must ever acknowledge the necessity of the 
Holy Spirit's work in order to the creation and 
exercise of saving faith, we should never direct 
an anxious sinner to look to the Spirit as his 
Saviour, but to Christ alone; never direct an 
inquirer to seek first an inward change, but an 



112 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



outward one — a justified state in order to enjoy- 
ing a sanctified heart— the former being the ne- 
cessary precursor of the latter. 

Repentance is, properly speaking, a change of 
mind, or a new mind about God; regeneration is 
a change of heart, or a new heart towards God ; 
conversion is a change of life, or a new life for 
God ; adoption is a change of family, or a new 
relationship to God ; sanctification is a change 
of employment, or a consecration of all to God ; 
glorification is a change of place, or a new con- 
dition with God ; but justification, which is a 
change of state, or a new standing before God, 
must be presented to the anxious inquirer as 
going before all, for being " accepted in the 
Beloved" is the foundation and cause of all, or, 
more properly speaking, the " precious seed" from 
which all the rest spring, blossom and bear fruit; 
and, consequently, the first and great duty of those 
who have to deal with awakened souls is to 
make this very clear, and to keep them inces- 
santly in contact with the blessed evangelical 
truth, " That a man is not justified by the works 
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." 
Gal. ii. 16. 

From all this you will observe, dear reader, 
that I am not settling the position which a doc- 



ESSENCE OF THE GOSPEL. H3 



trine in theology ought to hold, but simply deal- 
ing with the practical necessities of an anxious 
inquirer. Were I called on to state my views 
theoretically, I would say, they are described by 
what another has termed Jehovahism, " for of 
him, and through him, and to him, are all things : 
to whom be glory forever," Rom. xi. 36 ; but I 
am not contemplating the sinner as standing be- 
fore the throne of glory, but before the throne of 
grace ; and I am not endeavoring to settle a 
subtle question in theology, but to give the prac- 
tical solution of an urgent question of salvation. 
I am not attempting to lay down a system of 
divinity, but to discover the kind and order of 
truth divinely appointed and fitted to bring im- 
mediate peace to awakened and inquiring souls. 
And hoping to accomplish this most important 
end, I present " Jesus only," " for he is our 
peace," who "having made peace through the 
blood of his cross," Col. i. 20, has come " and 
preached peace," Eph. ii. 17, by his "everlasting 
gospel," to them " who were afar off, and to them 
that were nigh." 

The first practical step towards realizing and 

acknowledging the sovereignty of God, is to 

"let the peace of God rule in your hearts." 

Col. iii. 15. You may hold a sound creed with a 

10* 



114 THE BLOOD OF JESUS 



proud and unbroken heart, and be more deeply 
damned on that very account. But if you wish 
to know God in all the glory of his being and 
attributes, you must grasp the manifestation of 
that glory as it is embodied and manifested in 
the person of Jesus Christ. You can know the 
glory of God as a sovereign only by realizing his 
grace as a Saviour. For " God was manifest in 
the flesh." 1 Tim. iii. 16. " The word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his 
glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth." John i. 14. 
" Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the 
Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal 
him." Matt. xi. 2t 

" A mind at * perfect peace' with God ; 
Oh, what a word is this ! 
A sinner reconciled through blood ; 
This, this, indeed is peace I 

" By nature and by practice far — 
How very far ! — from God ; 
Yet nOw by grace brought nigh to him 
Through faith in Jesus' blood. 

" So nigh, so very nigh to God, 
I cannot nearer be ; 
For in the Person of his Son, 
1 am as near as he. 



ESSENCE OF THE GOSPEL. H5 



11 So dear, so very dear to God, 
More dear I cannot be ; 
The love wherewith he loves the Son, 
Such is his love for me. 

" Why should I ever careful be, 
Since such a God is mine ? 
He watches o'er me night and day, 
And tells me, ' Mine is thine/ " 




CHAPTER XIII. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S TESTIMONY TO THE BLOOD OF 

JESUS. 

H E great work which the Holy Spirit 
is now occupied in performing, is that 
of directing sinners to Jesus, and 
inclining and enabling them to come to him, that 
they may be saved ; and since this is the case, 
I am a fellow-worker with God the Holy Spirit 
only in so far as I tell anxious sinners to look to 
Jesus only, and have " redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins," as their first and 
great business ; and " this one thing I do." 

The question is not, whether do we think it 
scriptural for an awakened sinner to desire the 
secret and power-giving presence of the Holy 
Spirit to open the eyes of his understanding, and 
show him the all-sufficiency of Christ. That is 
what neither we nor any other true Christian 
would for a moment think of forbidding. Nor is 
it the question, whether the work of the Holy 
Spirit be necessary in order to salvation. The 

(116) 



TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Hf 

very fact of writing as we have done on regene- 
ration, in a previous chapter, will satisfy all in- 
genuous minds that we hold the absolute neces- 
sity of the work of the Holy Spirit in order to 
the regeneration and conversion of perishing 
souls. 

The only question, then, which falls to be con- 
sidered is, What am I to say to an awakened 
and anxious sinner ? Am I to say simply, " Be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved," Acts xvi. 31, as said the apostle of 
the Gentiles to the trembling jailor of Philippi ? 
or am I, as the first thing I do, to exhort him to 
pray for the Holy Spirit to convince him more 
deeply of his sin, enlighten his darkened under- 
standing, renew his perverse will, and enable 
him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the 
saving of his soul ? Am I to direct him, as the 
grand thing he has to do, to believe in Jesus, 
and accept his blood-shedding as the only foun- 
dation of his peace with God ; or to seek the 
work of the Spirit as an addition to Christ's 
work, in order that he may be justified ? The 
former leads to justification by faith alone, the 
true Apostolic doctrine of the Churches of the 
first age ; the latter leads to justification by sanc- 
tification, the pernicious doctrine of a later era, 
by embracing which a man can never reach any 



118 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



satisfactory assurance that his sins are pardoned, 
even after a lifetime's religious experience and 
devout and sincere performance of religious 
duties ; whereas by teaching salvation by the 
blood of Christ alone, a man may, like the Phil- 
ippian jailor, " rejoice, believing in God with all 
his house," Acts xvi. 34, " in the same hour" in 
which Christ is presented as the alone object of 
personal faith and consequent reconciliation. 

This is referred to in a forcible and memorable 
manner by Thomas Adams, one of the old Pu- 
ritans, when he is discoursing on " the first born 
which are written in heaven:" — 

"Woe," says he, "to that religion which 
teacheth even the best saint to doubt of his sal- 
vation while he liveth ! Hath Christ said, Be- 
lieve, and shall man say, Doubt? This is a rack 
and strappado to the conscience ; for he that 
doubteth of his salvation doubteth of God's love, 
and he that doubteth God's love cannot heartily 
love him again. If this love be wanting, it is not 
possible to have true peace. Oh, the terrors of 
this troubled conscience ! It is like an ague ; it 
may have intermission, but the fit will return, and 
shake him. An untoward beast is a trouble to 
a man ; an untoward wife is a greater trouble ; 
but the greatest trouble of all is an untoward 
conscience. Blessed is the man whose sins are 



TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. H9 



forgiven ; where there is no remission of sins, 
there is no blessedness. Now, there is no true 
blessedness but that which is enjoyed ; and none 
is enjoyed unless it be felt ; and it cannot be felt 
unless it be possessed; and it is not possessed 
unless a man know it ; and how does he know 
it that doubts whether he hath it or not ?" 

There is, we regret to think, a large class of 
professing Christians who seem to have the un- 
founded notion engrained in their minds, that 
Christ came as a Saviour in the fullness of time, 
and on being rejected and received up into 
glory, the Holy Spirit came down to be the 
Saviour of sinners in his stead, and that whether 
men are now to be saved or lost depends entirely 
on the work of the Holy Spirit in them, and not 
on the work of Christ done for them ; whereas 
the Holy Spirit was given as the crowning evi- 
dence that Jesus is still the Saviour, even now 
that he is in heaven ; and the great work of the 
Spirit is not to assume the place of Jesus as our 
Saviour, but to bear witness to Christ Jesus as 
the only Saviour, and by his quickening grace 
bring lost sinners to him that they may become 
" the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." 
Gal. iii. 26. This he did on the blessed day of 
Pentecost, when thousands of divinely quick- 
ened souls received his testimony, believed " in 



120 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



the name of Jesus," and obtained "remission of 
sins." Acts ii. 38. The Holy Ghost is not the 
Saviour, and he never professed to be so, but his 
great work, in so far as the unconverted are con- 
cerned, is to direct sinners to the Saviour, and 
to get them persuaded to embrace him and rely 
upon him. When speaking of the Holy Spirit, 
Jesus said distinctly to his disciples, " He shall 
not speak of himself. .... He shall glorify 
me." John xvi. 13, 14. If to glorify Christ be 
the grand aim and peculiar work of the Holy 
Spirit, should it not also be the grand aim and 
constant work of those who believe in him, and 
more especially of the ministers of his gospel ? 
The whole drift of the Holy Spirit's inspired 
oracles, as we have them in the Bible, is to 
glorify Christ ; and the gospel ministry has been 
granted by him, Eph. iv. 11, 12, to keep the pur- 
port of those Scriptures incessantly before the 
minds of men, and in so doing to beseech sin- 
ners to be reconciled to God. Now, Holy Scrip- 
ture throughout clearly teaches that, simply on 
account of the one finished and all-sufficient and 
eternally efficacious work of Christ, sinners who 
believe in him are " justified from all things ;" that 
we are " justified freely by his grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus : whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith 



TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 121 



in his blood," Rom. iii. 24, 25 ; and we are jus- 
tified as "sinners," as " ungodly," Rom. v. 6. 8, 
and not as having an incipient personal righte- 
ousness wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. 
Few men, with the word of God in their hands, 
would subscribe to such a doctrine ; and yet it 
is the latent creed of the great majority of 1 pro- 
fessing Christians. It is, in fact, the universal 
creed of the natural heart. Fallen human na- 
ture when under terror, says, Get into a better 
state by all means ; feel better, pray better, do 
better ; become holier, and reform your life and 
conduct, and God will have mercy upon you ! 
But grace says, "Behold God is my salvation!" 
Isa. xii. 2. To give God some equivalent for his 
mercy, either in the shape of an inward work 
of sanctification, or of an outward work of refor- 
mation, the natural man can comprehend and 
approve of; but to be justified by faith alone, on 
the ground of the finished work of Christ irre- 
spective of both, is quite beyond his comprehen- 
sion. But " the foolishness of God is wiser than 
men," 1 Cor. i. 25 ; for instead of preaching holi- 
ness as a ground of peace with God, u we preach 
Christ crucified," 1 Cor. i. 23, " for other founda- 
tion can no man lay" — either for justification 
or sanctification — "than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. iii. 11 ; and, whatever 

11 



122 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 



others may do, I am " determined not to know 
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. " 1 Cor. ii. 2. 

" Oh, my Redeemer, who for me wast slain, 

Who bringest me forgiveness and release, 
Whose death has ransomed me to God again, 

And now my heart can rest in perfect peace ! 
Still more and more do thou my soul redeem, 

From every bondage set me wholly free ; 
Though evil oft the mightest power may seem, 

Still make me more than conqueror, Lord, in thee !" 



THE END 



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